


Excessive Amount of Prompts

by OctolingO



Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms
Genre: Linked Universe (Legend of Zelda)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-25
Updated: 2021-02-23
Packaged: 2021-03-06 22:09:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 50
Words: 28,481
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26106241
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OctolingO/pseuds/OctolingO
Summary: SunflowerAro made a great fic called “Month of Prompts” so I decided to do my own take by writing down like a bazillion random words and writing short stories to themSeriously though go check out SunflowerAro :)Update: now includes Linktober fics!Chapter 43 is where to place requests, should anyone have them :D
Comments: 258
Kudos: 386





	1. Skull

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> slight warning for spooky stuff

“This is a bad idea.” Legend said, voice echoing off the walls of the dungeon. “Who knows what could be living down here?”  
“Lighten up!” Warriors said as he elbowed Legend. “You’re the most experienced one here!”  
“And you’re the least.” Legend deadpanned. “You’ve never even been through a real dungeon before. You and Wild.”  
“This certainly does bring back some memories.” Twilight said. “It’s really dark in here.”

“One second.” Hyrule said, before a candle flared to life and cast shadows on the wall. 

“Thanks.” Wind said. “I don’t like the dark.”  
“Neither do I.” Twilight and Hyrule said at the same time. They glanced at each other, and Twilight offered the brunette a smile. 

“Remind me why we even have to be down here?” Sky asked. 

“We’re looking for fairies, remember?” Legend said, beginning to grow impatient. “And my Hyrule doesn’t have many fairies not in dungeons.”

“Which dungeon even is this?” Four said, eyes appearing purple in the candlelight. 

“I dunno. It’s probably just a weird cave.” Legend muttered. “Wind, why did you have to go break your arm?”  
“It’s not like I meant to!” Wind said, glaring. Time put a hand on the boy’s shoulder. 

“We know you didn’t, Wind.” Time told him. “We just got unlucky with the timing.” 

“Well let’s keep looking for fairies.” Hyrule said. “I can sense some, somewhere down here.”

“That’s good.” Wild said. His foot crunched as he stepped on something, and he looked down. “Uh, guys?” 

“Wh—Holy Hylia!” Wind exclaimed, cutting himself off with a tidal wave of curses. Wild had stepped on a human bone, with the rest of the complete skeleton leaning against the wall. 

“Who was this?” Warriors said, leaning down so he was eye-to-eye with the skeleton. 

“A failed adventurer.” Time said quietly. He took a glass bottle, full of Red Potion, and set it next to the skeleton. Wild followed suit with a small and polished sword, and Legend contributed a ratty cape—Four pressed him to use something in better condition, but Legend glared at him until he was quiet. 

“We should go.” Twilight said. “We can get the fairy for Wind’s arm later.” 

“I agree.” Wind said. He was clutching Time’s hand tightly, no doubt intimidated by the skeleton. The others nodded, and they left the dungeon after Sky said a quick, yet heartfelt prayer to Hylia in front of the skeleton. 

“That was unsettling.” Hyrule said once they were back out in the fresh air. 

“I wonder who he was.” Legend said to himself as the group walked away from the dungeon and left the mysterious skeleton behind. 


	2. Plague

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning for blood and death

_ “Is it recording?” A boy with scars covering the left side of his face looks at the camera. “Alright, it’s recording.” _

__ _ “Great! Now let’s get this over with.” A boy with a streak of pink in his hair grumbles.  _

__ _ “Oh, lighten up, Legend!” The scarred boy says. “It’s a video diary, not an obituary.”  _

__ _ “Wild, I don’t think you realize that we’re probably doomed.” Legend replies smoothly. “Half the world has been reduced to barely-alive, decaying monsters. And, as an added bonus, we don’t know where five out of the nine in our group are. No offense to either of them, but I don’t think us plus Four and Wind can survive this.” _

__ _ “Hey! Just because we’re small doesn’t mean we’re going to die!” A blonde boy says indignantly.  _

__ _ “He has a point, Wind.” A boy with a headband says. “Our chances of survival don’t look good.”  _

__ _ “Well we can think about that later!” Wind almost yells.  _

__ _ “Alright, so we’re okay now.” Wild says to the camera. “We have enough food for about a month, and once the others get here we can do supply runs. Until next time!” _

__ _ “Day three of surviving the zombie apocalypse.” Wild says in an overly serious tone. “Hyrule showed up yesterday, so now we’re just waiting on Warriors, Twilight, Sky, and Time. Good news, Hyrule also has medical supplies! None of us are hurt—” _

_ “Yet,” Legend unhelpfully interjects, and Wild glares at him.  _

_ “None of us are hurt, but it’s a good thing to have.” _

_ “Um, h-hello?” A new voice says, and the camera turns to see a brown haired boy walking into the cave. “Guys?” _

_ “Sky!” Wind’s voice yells, and a blur of blue fabric attacks Sky in a ferocious hug. “You’re okay!” _

_ “Yeah, I am.” Sky says, but his voice catches.  _

_ “What is it?” Four asks.  _

_ “The z-zombies got Sun.” Sky falls to his knees as his body begins to shake with sobs. “They took her, while we were running here.” _ _  
_ __ _ “Hold on one second.” Wild glances at the camera, then puts it on the ground so all the viewers would see is the roof of the cave they are hiding out in. Crying and consoling is heard from where Sky is kneeling. Legend looks at the camera with a glare. _

_ “I think that’s enough for one day.”  _

__ _ “We’re a week into the apocalypse!” Wind is the one holding the camera this time. “Wild is busy,” the camera spins to show Wild being scolded by Hyrule, who is wrapping a cut on his arm. “Since he got hurt on a supply run. But he got tuna!” this time, the camera pans over to a pile of five cans of tuna. “So we have more food!”  _

__ _ “I’m trying to sleep, Wind.” Sky’s voice says, in a painfully deadpan tone. _

__ _ “Oh, sorry.” Wind lowers his voice. “I hope Warriors, Twi, and Time get here soon. They should be able to snap Sky out of it.”  _

__ _ “It’s been almost two weeks since this whole thing started.” Wild says, and his voice has lost a bit of its optimism. “We still have enough food for about three weeks, but we’re going to need to get more if—when the others show up.”  _

_ Suddenly, an inhuman rasping and choking sounds as something enters the cave. Wind and Legend curse up a storm, and Wild quickly sets the camera down. Slashing and shouts ring through the cave, and Wild appears back in the camera’s frame minutes later. There is dark, almost black, blood splattered across his face.  _

_ “That was a zombie.” He says, eyes wide and face pale. “I think I’m g-going to end it here.” His finger shakes as he presses the ‘stop recording’ button. _

_ “Hey, whoever might see this.” Sky says with a smile that is much too sad. “We’re about a month in, now. No one else has shown up, but I’m holding out hope that they’re trying to get here.” He clears his throat. “Wild said that maybe this would help me feel better, if I got to make one of these. I… things haven’t been great, but they haven’t been awful since I got here. L-Losing Sun hurts, though. It hurts a lot more than I thought it would.” Sky laughs mirthlessly and wipes a tear off his face. “I don’t think this is helping. Maybe I should just go back to—” _

_ “Guys, if you’re not in this cave, I’m going to kill something!” A voice yells. Sky holds the camera in front of him, so potential viewers can see Warriors, Time, and Twilight walk into the cave, the latter supported between the former two. Time’s right eye is caked with blood, and Warriors is favoring his left ankle. Twilight, on the other hand, is barely conscious. Just lifting his head looks like it takes a herculean effort. His tunic is stained almost black with blood, presumably his, oozing out from a slash in his side.  _

_ “What happened?” Hyrule asks, already taking out his medical supplies.  _

_ “He jumped in front of a zombie. And the zombie was wielding a piece of scrap metal.” Warriors says, eyes full of concern.  _

_ “Hey, I w-wanted you to see Wind again.” Twilight says with a wan smile and a cough that adds more blood to his tunic.  _

_ “Be quiet and focus on not dying.” Warriors commands. He looks as if he is trying not to cry, or scream, or curse, or a combination of the three. Time still seems to be in shock from the loss of his eye, but his remaining one reveals how worried he is for Twilight.  _

_ “You need to have a sense of self-preservation, idiot.” Legend reprimands. Twilight doesn’t even bother responding, only winces as Hyrule starts to clean his wound.  _

_ “We gotta deal with this.” Sky says to the camera. “Bye.”  _

_ “We’re about three months in. No one cares enough to be keeping count anymore.” Legend says with a near-hysterical laugh. “Wind and Time went out to get supplies, Time didn’t come back. One down.” The camera takes a moment to show Wind, crying almost silently into Twilight’s shirt. The Ordonian’s gash is mostly healed, though he still favors his side. Wind ignores how Twilight’s own tears are running through his hair as the two try not to sob.  _

_ “Zombie attacks are getting more frequent, too.” Wild says in a wobbly voice. “One bit Sky. We need to find a cure.” Sky is sleeping, face pale and sweaty, with a very infected looking bite on his arm.  _

_ “There isn’t going to be a cure, Wild.” Legend says. “Like I said, we’re doomed.”  _

_ “There’s six of us, now, and we’re only a half year in.” Wild once again has control of the camera. Tear stains are all over his face and shirt. “Sky snapped and tried to kill us. Warriors killed Sky. Then Warriors killed himself. Legend was right. There’s no way we can possibly survive this.” The video ends as Wild breaks down into sobs. _

__ _ “Three zombies found us.” Wind has the camera, and it is shaking violently. “No one died, but Twilight reopened his wound and Hyrule is out of medical supplies. The g-good kind, at least.” _

__ _ “I told you, I’m going to be fine, Wind.” Twilight says, and the camera turns. Twilight does not look good. His face is pale, there are bags under his eyes, and his eyes themselves are haunted. Wind’s eyes are haunted too. _

__ _ “Please, someone come save us.” Wind whispers.  _

__ _ “We lost Four.” Twilight is the one with the camera. “Hyrule, thankfully, survived the supply run and got us food, but he isn’t in any condition to heal anyone. I assume you can hear the problems.” Even though Twilight does not move, he is right. There is murmuring and crying echoing through the cave. Twilight coughs into his fist and wipes the blood off on his shirt. “This stupid wound got infected, and holy Hylia do infected wounds hurt. Hopefully someone is willing to get more supplies soon.”  _

__ _ “We’re a year in, and it’s just three of us now. Hyrule disappeared in the night.” Wild says. “Twilight and Legend went to get more food, Twilight didn’t come back. Legend says he bled out, but I think something attacked them.” Wild lowers his voice. “I’m worried about Legend. Heck, I’m worried about all of us, but especially him. He keeps laughing, even when no one has said anything. And he’s woken up screaming so many times that the zombies probably know exactly where we live.” Wild sighs, pulling Wind and Legend into the frame. “The three of us are going off to get more food. Wish us luck!” _

__

That is the last entry. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I promise the next chapter won’t be so sad


	3. Pride

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Modern AU, LGBTQ characters

“This is kinda nerve-wracking.” Wind confessed as Wild painted the blue, pink, and white stripes onto his face. “What if we’re the only ones who show up? What if I’m the only trans person there?”   
“You won’t be, genius.” Legend said, showing off his transgender flag socks (they went up to his kness). “I’m going too.” He had a necklace on too, with massive beads of the genderfluid flag, plus a pair of matching earrings. 

“Oh. Right.” Wind sheepishly rubbed the back of his head. 

“Am I wearing this right?” Hyrule said. He spun in a circle, and his asexual flag cape flew off. “No, I’m not.” 

“Give me a second, and I’ll help!” Sky called, from where he was sitting in a chair as Wild painted the bisexual flag across the bridge of his nose. Hyrule nodded. 

“Alright!”

“Old man,” Warriors was saying, “how have you never been to a pride parade before?”   
“They weren’t as much of a thing when I was your age.” Time tried to explain. He moved to scratch at his pink, purple, and blue face paint, but Warriors slapped his hand away. The Captain had switched out his signature blue scarf for a rainbow one, and Legend (surprisingly) had helped him with rainbow eyeshadow—turns out Legend was very good at doing makeup. 

“I’ve never gone either.” Twilight confessed. Though he had refused to remove his wolf pelt, he was wearing pink, yellow, and blue arm bands and Wild had insisted on painting a multitude of pansexual flags on his face. “Ordon didn’t participate in a lot of Hyrule’s events.”

“Clearly.” Warriors muttered. 

“Leave him alone, War.” Four said. He was sitting on a chair after putting on his asexual headband and facepaint (Wild had gone a bit overboard and bought a lot of paint, so everyone got facepaint, unless they explicitly didn’t want it). 

“Alright, you’re all set!” Sky nodded in thanks and moved to fix Hyrule’s cape. “Twi, will you help me? I don’t want to mess this up.” Wild said. He gestured to the paints sitting on the table, specifically the genderfluid and bisexual colors. 

“Oh! Um, sure.” Twilight said. He sat in front of Wild and started painting on the flags, and though they were a bit lopsided Wild was grinning by the time he’d finished. 

“This is so exciting!” Wild said, practically bouncing up and down. “We finally get to do this together!” 

“We’re going to have to get going soon.” Sky glanced down at his watch. “Since traffic will probably be awful as we get further into town.”

“Me and Twilight will be driving.” Time said.    
“But Twilight drives like he’s 80!” Legend whined. 

“I just feel more comfortable 5 below the speed limit!” Twilight defended himself. 

“And you take way longer to get anywhere.” Warriors said. 

“You know what? Warriors, you drive.” Time said. Twilight gave him a betrayed look that he pointedly ignored.

“Is everyone ready?” Wind asked. 

“I think so.” Hyrule said. He spun again, and his cape stayed on. “Yup, we’re good to go!”

“Then let’s go!” 


	4. Glowing

“We’re almost to Hateno Village, I promise.” Wild said. He was gripping the reins so tightly that his knuckles turned white as they rode towards Fort Hateno. “Do not go off the path, and especially do not go near the Guardians.”

“G-Guardians?” Sky sounded terrified. 

“Yeah, the spidery-looking robot things.” Wild said, not picking up on Sky’s fear. “They shoot lasers.”

“They can’t… fly, can they?”

“Some can, but not these ones.”

“What’s wrong?” Time asked. 

“N-Nothing, I just fought creatures called Guardians on my adventure.” Sky said, wringing his hands. “They were not fun, to say the least.”

“These ones are more annoying than dangerous, at least for me.” Wild replied. “As long as we stay away from them, they should leave us alone.”

“Good.” Sky shivered and subconsciously wrapped his Sailcloth further around himself. As they rode towards the crumbling wall of Fort Hateno, it quickly became obvious what Wild had meant by spidery robots. The creatures were everywhere, tilted every which way, and in every possible condition. 

“It’s like a graveyard.” Wind whispered, which did nothing to help Sky’s nervousness. As they rode through the Guardians, Sky noticed that his hands were shaking.  _ Come on, I’m a hero. This shouldn’t scare me. Even if they’re terrifying, and they share the same name as my Guardians, they’re not the same thing. Wild says these ones aren’t even scary, so it should be fine.  _ Lost in thought, Sky suddenly realized he’d drifted off the path. 

And that the Guardian in front of him was beginning to move. It came to life in a brilliant glow of blue, which quickly turned to a pink when it saw Sky and focused its laser on him. 

“Sky! Hide behind something!” Wild shouted. Sky shook his head and dove behind a thankfully dormant Guardian, and the alive one glowed blue again. Until it turned its head, and locked on to Wild. 

“Don’t panic, I got this.” Wild said. He grabbed a rusty old shield from the road and held it in front of him as the Guardian charged up its laser. Twilight tried to get to his protegѐ, but Time and Warriors held him back, ignoring his protests. 

The Guardian fired its precise, glowing, and deadly laser at Wild. 

And Wild bounced the laser back into the Guardian’s eye with a perfectly timed parry.

As Ganon’s Malice flew from the Guardian, Wild jogged up to make sure Sky was alright. 

“I’m fine. Just spooked, and maybe a little out of breath.” Sky said. Wild nodded. “Those are not nearly as scary as my Guardians, though.” 

“Care to explain?” Legend crossed his arms. 

“I’d rather not.” Sky barely kept himself from shuddering. 


	5. Gifts

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning for blood and injury

“It’s Infected!” Warriors said loudly, his sword spraying the Moblin’s dark blood onto the ground.    
“You don’t say!” Legend retorted, ducking under a swing and flinging a ball of fire up with his Fire Rod. 

“Maybe we should focus on killing it instead of talking?” Twilight pointed out, rolling past a strike. “We’ve already discovered that Infected monsters are harder to kill.”   
“And yet, you just said more than both of us combined.” Legend muttered. He grinned as Time’s massive sword cut into the Moblin’s arm, coupled with stabs from Wind’s blade. The Moblin would fall soon, he was sure of it. The Moblin snarled, its red eyes alight with a combination of pain and fury. Four, who was darting around the thing’s legs, became the target of a stomping rampage. He managed to get out of the way, thankfully. 

“Hey, ugly!” Sky said, standing a few feet away with the Master Sword held aloft. “Eat this!” He swung the sword, and a beam of light flew from the blade. The beam slashed the Moblin’s right arm clean off, and the Moblin fell to its knees with a shriek. 

“Are you guys okay?” Time said, crashing into the battle scene with Wild and Hyrule on his heels—the three of them had dealt with a few normal Bokoblins. 

“We’re fine—” Legend began. 

“Legend, look out!” Warriors shouted, having been the only one who’d noticed as the Moblin raised a shaking arm to slice Legend in half. The Captain dove, shoving Legend out of the way and taking the hit. 

With a shout, Twilight stabbed the Moblin close to five times, to ensure that it was completely dead. Warriors fell to his knees, scarlet blood staining his tunic. 

“You idiot!” Legend almost yelled. “Why would you do that?”   
“Looks like the Moblin left us a parting gift.” Warriors said in reply, trying to laugh. 

“This is no time for humor, Captain!” Legend rubbed at his eyes. “Hyrule, can you heal him?”

“I can try.” Hyrule’s hands began to glow pink as he tried to heal Warriors’ wound. The gash gradually closed, until it was nothing more than a scar. Hyrule keeled over, falling to the side as Sky caught him. Warriors coughed a few times and blinked rapidly.

“As far as gifts go,” he began, “that was not a good one.” 


	6. Photos

_ “I don’t want to forget anything.” Wild said as he held up the Sheikah Slate and prepared to take a picture.  _

Wild allowed a small smile to dance across his face as he scrolled through the images on his Sheikah Slate. The other Links were all asleep, in a rather unruly pile of tangle limbs. Warriors was being clung to by Wind and Hyrule, and Legend had his face buried into Hyrule’s shoulder. Wind was spread out, not unlike a starfish, with one of his hands grabbing Warriors’ ankle. Twilight was curled into a ball—it honestly reminded Wild of Wolfie—beside Wind, and Four was gripping Twilight’s fur pelt. Time was rigid, even in sleep, though his hand was holding Twilight’s. Sky was almost on top of Warriors and Wind, snoring loudly. Wild had already taken a photo of the cuddle pile, but he was tempted to take another one just for fun. 

He sighed, absentmindedly tracing a finger over the scars on his face. He’d taken almost a hundred various photos of him and his traveling companions, but he had his own personal favorites:

Legend, mouth open in protest as Hyrule wrapped and healed a broken wrist. 

The look of terror on Twilight’s face as Warriors threw Wind towards him, the three of them standing in a lake. Wild remembered the aftermath of that photo. Twilight had been absolutely drenched. Warriors and Wind had laughed until their stomachs hurt. 

Time, using his Ocarina to play a short song as the heroes sat around a campfire. 

Wild had an arsenal of pictures of Sky falling asleep in random places, but one of the best ones was him asleep on Epona’s back, with Four riding behind him and trying to keep the sleeping hero in the horse’s saddle. 

Four, face sweating as he hammered a sword that was almost as long as he was. The sword was intended for Wild, who had ended up breaking it mere moments after it had been finished. 

Wild even had a few images of himself, taken by Twilight or Wind. A particularly good one was of him, next to Time, the both of them shield surfing down a slope. They were moving so quickly that they were almost a blur, but the exasperation on Twilight and Legend’s faces was plain to see. 

Hyrule, sword blazing as he swung at a group of Bokoblins. Wild had many images from that battle, but the lighting on this one was near to perfection. 

Twilight and Warriors, using their Hookshots to pull back the arms of a Moblin while Sky finished the job. 

An image of all nine of them, circled around the campfire. Wild is closest to the camera, seeing as he was holding it when he took the photo. Time is smiling slightly as Wind tells a story, the younger boy’s eyes alight and his hands in the middle of gesturing. Sky, as per usual, is asleep with his head leaning against Legend’s shoulder. The other hero is not making any move to shove Sky off, despite his indignant expression. Four is chatting with Hyrule, who was listening with a polite but slightly distracted expression. Twilight is content to listen to the chatter as he eats, as is Warriors. The two of them seem to be playing a game where they try to kick each other’s feet, however. Wild remembered Warriors losing that game, surprisingly enough. 

_ “I promise, I will never get rid of these photos.” Wild said, holding a hand up in a mock oath. “And I will never forget any of you.”  _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *whispering* today is my birthday...


	7. Comfort

Wind clutched his Sail close to his face, breathing in the salty air that still clung to the fabric. Wild’s Hyrule was where they had been dropped, in a village by the sea called Lurelin Village. It was very nice, and it reminded Wind of home. All of the heroes had used their time for a day of relaxation, which was something they had all desperately needed, whether they’d realized it or not. 

They hadn’t put anyone on watch, since Wild said the village was safe. Thus, all of the Links would be getting a full night's sleep, if nightmares permitted it. 

Well, all of the Links save for Wind. 

Lurelin felt like Outset, even smelled and sounded like Outset, and yet Wind knew it wasn’t his home. He’d been successfully staving off homesickness for the entirety of their adventure, but being in a place that was so similar to where he’d grown up hit a little close to his heart. 

He closed his eyes to try and go to sleep, but images and memories of Outset just kept coming and coming. 

Wind bit his lip to keep a sob from escaping, not wanting to wake up the others—most prominently Legend, who seemed to be avoiding nightmares for the first time in weeks. Something wet bumped into Wind’s cheek, and he looked up to see Wolfie staring at him, head cocked. Wolfie made a low growl in his throat, not one of anger but one of concern. 

“I’m fine, Wolfie. Just a little homesick.” Wind said to the beast. Wolfie whined and laid down next to Wind, offering his soft dark fur as a blanket. Wind laughed softly and ran his fingers through Wolfie’s fur, falling into a rhythm that quickly lulled him to sleep. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this is so short! I have a really good one I’m working on and it’s a better length


	8. Small

“You ever fought these before?” Legend demanded. 

“No! Wizzrobes in purple and green are new to me!” Wild said. 

“Great.” Legend muttered. “We’re in his Hyrule and he doesn’t know what we’re fighting.” The three Wizzrobes, dressed in purple and green as Wild had pointed out, giggled maniacally and danced around, waving their similarly colored wands. They hadn’t actually done anything other than jump and cackle thus far, but the various heroes had their weapons at the ready nonetheless. 

“Let’s just kill ‘em already.” Wind said, at the same time Twilight nodded and loosed an arrow into the head of the first Wizzrobe. It shrieked and disappeared in a puff of smoke. The other Wizzrobes narrowed their eyes and pointed their wands. A thick fog began to set in around the heroes, until Legend couldn’t see anything below his own waist. He could hear the Wizzrobes and their incredibly annoying giggling, however. 

“Is everyone okay?” Wind’s voice carried through the fog.

“Not sure!” Legend shouted back. “I can’t see anything!”

“Neither can I!” Wild’s voice came. 

“Agreed!” Four shouted.

“We need to clear this fog!” Time yelled. As if on cue, the fog started to recede, and Legend ran over to Wild, Four, Wind, and Time. 

“Where are the others—Oh no.” Legend stared in shock at the four  _ children _ sitting on the ground. Two of them looked to be about seven, one was five, and the other child was a mere toddler, maybe just two years old. 

And they were dressed just like Twilight, Warriors, Sky, and Hyrule. 

“Did the Wizzrobes de-age them?” Legend grumbled. 

“It would seem so.” Time said, his one eye wide. “We should try to find a Great Fairy, maybe she could undo it.” 

“Well, we are pretty close to Tarrey Town. There’s a Great Fairy near that, we can go there.” Wild said. 

“Great.” Wind said. “What do we do about the littles?”

“I guess… we carry them?” Four proposed.

“Hey! I can carry myself!” One of the seven year olds said. He had blonde hair and a blue scarf, marking him as Warriors. Twilight, the other seven year old, nodded sharply, but didn’t say anything. “We’re much older than the babies!”

“I’m not a baby!” Little Sky, five years old, retorted. He yawned. Little Hyrule was content to pick at the grass and fiddle with his shirt. 

“Well, either way, you and Hyrule need to be carried.” Time said. Sky gave him an indignant look. “Your legs are shorter. You can’t go quite as fast as we can.”

“Fine.” Sky pouted, kicking the dirt. Time smiled at him and picked him up, and even though Sky was intent on keeping up the pouting routine it was clear he was enjoying it. Hyrule blinked, looked up at Legend, and raised his arms. 

“Looks like he wants you to carry him.” Wind said with a smirk. 

“Oh no, I am not good with kids.” Legend took a step back from little Hyrule, whose face crumbled. 

“Legend, he’s gonna cry if you don’t do it.” Wind said. He looked like he was ready to cover his ears if the need arose. 

“Alright, alright.” Legend walked over to the toddler and picked him up, surprised at how heavy he was. “See? There’s no need to cry.”

“I’ve never cried.” Warriors said proudly. 

“Not true!” Twilight said in an accented voice. Older Twilight had an accent, but younger Twilight’s accent was so strong that it was hard to tell what he was saying. “You cried when you ripped your scarf!”   
“He did, didn’t he.” Four mused. “I’m surprised he remembers that.”

“I gotta good mem’ry.” Twilight said proudly. Then, as if he’d said too much, his face went red and he darted to hide behind Time, who looked at him with a mixture of shock and adoration on his face. Legend fought to keep a smile off his face, then winced as Hyrule tugged on his hair.

“Pretty.” He said, grabbing at Legend’s streak of pink hair. 

“Thanks, pipsqueak.” 

“So, should we get going?” Wild said with a massive grin. 

“Why don’t we.” Time agreed, shifting his arms around Sky—who, as to be expected, had already fallen asleep. The nine of them began to set out, with Warriors instantly drifting up towards Wind and beginning a conversation; something about weapons and fish. Wind was listening intently and nodding as Warriors spoke. Twilight stayed close to Time, gripping the oldest hero’s pant leg with white knuckles. Wild was a bit confused at that; he didn’t remember Twilight being particularly socially anxious before. Child Twilight was clearly a lot different from young adult Twilight. 

“Wild!” Warriors said, practically bouncing over to the long-haired hero. 

“What’s up?”   
“I wanna race!”

“A race? Alright, sure. Where are we racing to?”

“Hmmm… there!” Warriors pointed at a tree a ways down. “Three, two, one, go!” He took off, Wild running behind at full speed. Wild pulled ahead, but he could feel himself tiring. Warriors, on the other hand, was running like his life depended on it. He didn’t slow at all until he’d flown past Wild and reached the tree. “Ha! I win I win I win!”

“You’re pretty fast, War.” Wild said, only panting slightly by the time he caught up. 

“Mm-Hmm!” Warriors said with a nod. “I can run faster than anything!”

“Anything, huh?” Legend said, a hint of a challenge crossing his face. 

“Yup!”   
“Well that’s quite the accomplishment.” Time said as a way to divert the conversation before Legend dug himself into a hole. “We need to keep going so we can get as far as possible before nightfall.”

“Not like dark.” Hyrule said. Legend subconsciously touched the two year old’s fluffy hair. 

“I’ll protect you, Hyrule.” Twilight told him, almost glaring at the sky around them.  _ Well, I suppose he hasn’t changed that much.  _ Wild thought with amusement.

“Yeah!” Warriors added. Twilight smiled at his friend, and Time felt like his heart was going to melt. 

“Well let’s keep going!” Wild said, marching off down the trail. Warriors chose to continue walking by Wind, and Time strode next to Four. Twilight walked up near Wild, who was leading the group. 

“Can I walk by you?” He asked, hands fidgeting with his fur pelt. Wild nodded, grinning. 

“Of course you can!” Twilight’s face brightened. 

“Thanks.” 

When they reached where they were going to camp, Hyrule had fallen asleep in Legend’s arms. Sky had yet to wake up, unsurprisingly. Wild started working on cooking something for dinner, and Twilight was like his shadow as the boy watched Wild start a fire. Warriors was bragging about something to Time, who was listening politely but not particularly attentively. 

“We are going to have so much blackmail material after this.” Legend whispered to Four, who’s eyes flashed blue. 

“Agreed. Especially against the Captain.” He said. Legend chuckled. Unexpectedly, Hyrule—who had been sleeping soundly until just now—made an upset sound and shifted, then opened his eyes. There were tears in them, and Legend knew exactly what had just happened.  _ Thanks a lot, Hylia. Giving nightmares to a two year old.  _

“Don’t like dark.” Hyrule whimpered, burying his face in Legend’s shirt and crying. “Bad things are in dark!”

“It’s okay, pipsqueak. Nothing is going to hurt you while I’m alive and kicking.” Legend murmured. Twilight turned, alerted to Hyrule’s crying, and nervously bit his lip. He rested a small hand on his Shadow Crystal, and in a flash of black energy, there was a wolf pup sitting in front of them—Wolfie, who apparently matched Twilight’s current age. Wolfie trotted over to Hyrule and Legend, crawled into Legend’s lap, beside Hyrule, and waited. After a few moments, Hyrule sniffled and removed his face from Legend’s tunic. He looked down at Wolfie, timidly reaching out a hand and petting Wolfie’s head. 

“Dog.” He said with a smile that made Legend’s heart want to break. Wolfie wagged his tail and licked Hyrule’s finger, causing the small hero to giggle. A few minutes passed, and Hyrule calmed down, falling asleep on Legend’s shoulder—evidently his crying had tired him out. Wolfie shifted back into Twilight, who yawned and rubbed at his eyes. He wandered over to Time, sat next to the older hero, leaned his head on his shoulder, and fell asleep. Time jerked his head and looked at little Twilight in shock, but he smiled and ruffled the sleeping boy’s hair after a moment. 

“Dinner’s ready!” Wild said. He looked at Twilight and Hyrule. “Well, for those who are awake.”   
“I’m awake!” Warriors volunteered. Wild laughed. 

“Glad to hear it, Captain.” Wild handed Warriors a small ceramic bowl of soup, giving slightly larger bowls to himself, Four, Wind, Legend, and Time. The heroes ate in silence, save for Twilight’s light snoring and the sound of Warriors aggressively slurping his soup. 

“So, we’re going to have to forget this all happened eventually, right?” Four said, tapping his chin with his spoon. “It’s probably going to be embarrassing to them, particularly Twilight and Warriors.”

“I refuse to forget this.” Legend retorted. “And I am also never going to let any of them forget it.” 


	9. Coffee

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Modern AU

Time glanced at his watch and sighed. It was six in the Hylia-forsaken morning, and he would much rather be at home in bed with his wonderful wife than be sitting in a coffee shop, waiting behind a line of other boys as a flustered blonde girl took their orders. The girl seemed very nice, that wasn’t the problem. The problem was that it was  _ six in the morning on a Saturday.  _ Why were there eight other people all waiting in line on a Saturday morning?

As the first boy left—a blonde who looked about fourteen and had ordered a sea salt caramel mocha—the girl walked off to go prepare the drink, as a tall and slender brunette with a permanent disapproving frown took the stand. 

“What can I get for you today?” She asked in a melodic, yet no-nonsense tone. 

“H-Hi, um,” The fluffy haired brunette boy said, nervously carding his hands through his hair. “Could I get an espresso, please?”   
“Of course. Flora! We need an espresso!”   
“Give me a second, Dusk!” The blonde girl who had been taking orders earlier yelled from out of Time’s view. 

“I’ll handle it!” A pretty and narrow-faced blonde girl raised her hand and smiled. Dusk nodded. 

“Thanks Artemis.” 

“No problem!” Artemis said brightly as she began working. Dusk rubbed her face for a moment, making Time bite his lip sympathetically, before turning to the next customer: a boy with long blonde hair, that went almost to his waist. 

“Please, give me the most caffeinated thing you have in stock.”   
“Are you sure, kid?”

“I have to study for finals.”   
“Say no more.” Dusk glanced at Flora, who was giving the blonde boy his drink. “Hey Flora, you’re up!”   
“Got it!” Flora took the spot behind the counter again as Dusk walked off, no doubt to fill a coffee cup with an ungodly amount of over-caffeinated espresso. 

“Hey Twilight!” Flora said. She waved at the boy with the long hair. “Hi Wild!”

“Hi Flora!” Wild waved back, and Twilight rolled his eyes. 

“Good morning Flora.” Twilight greeted. “Are you still making pumpkin spice lattes?”  _ It’s the middle of June.  _ Time thought, vaguely shocked. 

“You’re the main person who orders them, and yes I already have one made.” Flora took a cup from under the counter. “It’s still warm, don’t panic.”   
“Thanks.” Twilight took the cup and gave Flora two Blue Rupees. “You can keep whatever the extra is.”   
“Have a good day!” Flora said, smiling as she put the Blue Rupees in the money bucket. “Thank you!”

“No problem.” Twilight said over his shoulder. He stood next to Wild for a moment, waiting for the other boy to get his drink, before the two of them sat at a table with a scarlet haired boy and orange haired girl. The next person in line—a shorter boy with his blonde hair held back by a headband, walked up and put a Purple Rupee on the counter. 

“I would please like a caramel latte, an espresso, a chocolate mocha, and earl grey tea. If you have tea.”   
“We do.” Flora said, eyes wide. Time didn’t blame her; this small boy had just ordered four different drinks. Flora turned and called back into the kitchen. “Sun, your turn!”

“Coming!” Sang a voice from behind one of the refrigerators. Flora walked off to get to work, while a pretty blonde girl with a bright smile took her place. “Hello, what can I do for you today?”   
“Black coffee, please, with a lot of cream.” A blonde boy said, hands fiddling with a tassel on the end of his blue scarf. Time raised his eyebrows at the bold fashion statement. Sun nodded, calling the order to Dusk. The boy thanked her and waited in line as a sandy-blonde boy walked up and blushed. 

“Hey, Sun.”

“Hello Sky.” Sun said, leaning across the counter and pecking Sky on the cheek. “I assume you want the usual?”   
“Strawberry cream, yup!” Sky said.  _ Strawberry? Interesting choice.  _ Time thought. Sun nodded, not even blushing despite the red color of her boyfriend’s face. “Hey, Ari? Could you take the last two orders?” Time realized there was only one boy in front of him, a blonde wearing a long reddish tunic—and surprisingly no pants—with a streak of bubble-gum pink in his hair. He glared at everyone in the coffee shop, as if daring them to comment on his look. Artemis strode to the counter as Sun made Sky’s drink and chatted with him. 

“Black coffee. As black as you can make it.” The boy deadpanned. Artemis blinked at the slightly snarky tone, but she’d dealt with worse. 

“Sure thing. Dusk, did you—”

“I got it!” Dusk shouted. Artemis nodded and turned, looking up slightly at Time. 

“Good morning sir, what can I get for you?” Time looked around at the boys, each with drastically varying orders. 

“Surprise me.”


	10. Moon

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think I’ve posted more than enough fluff for now 😈

Twilight paced back and forth on watch, his left hand never leaving the hilt of his sword and his right hand hovering over his Shadow Crystal. Legend would tease him for being paranoid, but Legend wasn’t awake. 

He stepped on a stick, cracking it in half and pausing to listen for anything moving closer. All he heard was the hooting of an owl and a cricket. 

And… was that muffled crying? 

Twilight instinctively shifted into his wolf form, affectionately dubbed ‘Wolfie’ by the rest of the group. He was almost overwhelmed by the flood of smells and sounds that assaulted his senses, but he had grown used to it at this point. He scanned for whoever was crying. Wild was still sound asleep, as were Legend and Wind—the three of them tended to have the worst nightmares, with Hyrule and Warriors taking second worst. In terms of nightmares, Twilight was actually one of the lucky ones. 

No, it seemed like the crying was coming from Time, of all people.

Twilight knew that his mentor had nightmares, sometimes even to the point where he screamed, but he’d never seen Time  _ cry _ . In fact, he was the only one of the group who hadn’t cried thus far:

Wind had cried when he’d gotten a letter from Aryll and Tetra. 

Legend had cried during a violent storm in Wind’s Hyrule.

Hyrule had cried when Wild had taken a hit for him. 

Sky had cried when they’d talked about sweethearts and lovers.

Twilight had cried during more than a few sunsets, most of which the others didn’t know about. 

Four had cried, almost imperceptibly, at the mention of a mirror to a darker world. 

Warriors had cried when he’d been unable to properly bandage a wound on Wind’s stomach, leading Hyrule to have to use his magic. 

Wild had cried more than the others, save for Twilight, realized: after nightmares and the like. 

But Time, Time had never cried. And it was unnerving to see him do so. Twilight paused for a moment, debating whether Wolfie or Twilight would be more helpful in this situation. Wolfie, due to his beastly appearance, might make Time freak out even more if the older hero was still caught in the nightmare’s clutches. Twilight’s human form was more familiar to Time, and would probably work better. 

Twilight moved his hand away from his Shadow Crystal as he crept over to Time, trying to make just enough noise as to alert the other hero that he was approaching, but not so much as to startle him. Time, sitting up with his face buried in his hands, did not give any indication of noticing Twilight. 

“Hey, Time.” Twilight said, sitting beside Time. “Everything okay?” Twilight knew it was not, but he figured it would be polite to ask. 

“F-Fine, Pup.” Time choked out. His voice was muffled by his sleeves. “You c-can sleep.” Twilight noticed that Time was using less words, which was something he often did when he got nervous or anxious.    
“You’re not fine.” Twilight corrected. “You can tell me, I won’t tell anyone else.”

“Nightmare.” Time murmured. “The moon. Falling.” Twilight, unsure of what to say, hugged Time. His mentor tensed for a moment, but very quickly melted into the hug and tried to contain his sobs. “I d-don’t want that. To happen.”

“I know you don’t. None of us do. But it won’t happen.”

“It d-did though.” Twilight paused. He’d heard Time saying that he’d fought the moon, but had always brushed it off as an overexaggerated story. 

“Well, it isn’t happening now. We’re all perfectly okay.”

“But what if I fail? What—”

“You haven’t failed. You’ve done a better job than all of us have.” Time opened his mouth to protest, but he seemed to realize it was a futile attempt and looked at Twilight. 

“Thank you.”   
“Of course. You do the same for us, it’s the least we can do.” 

“I would like to take watch, now.” Time said. 

“I can handle another few hours—”

“Pup, the bags under your eyes are the size of a Goron. You spend so much time comforting all of us that you’re forgetting to sleep.” Twilight was pleased to hear that Time sounded more like himself. “Please, go to sleep. I don’t really want to anymore, anyways.”

“Alright, if you insist.” Twilight laid down as Time got up, the oldest hero wincing as a bone in his back popped. 

“Goodnight.” Time said. 

“ ‘Night.” 


	11. Blood

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I AM SO SORRY FOR TAKING THIS LONG I GOT DISTRACTED WITH ORIGINAL WRITING AGAIN
> 
> Warnings in this chapter for disturbing imagery, as the title suggests

It was dark.

Pitch dark. 

And Hyrule was scared. 

Extremely scared. 

He turned his head, still seeing nothing more than the single, floating lantern about two hundred yards away from him. The rest of the room, if it could even be called that, was simply pitch black, and splashing liquid was heard as Hyrule walked around, though it was much too dark for him to actually see what the liquid was. Hyrule realized with a sinking, horrified feeling that he didn’t have his sword or shield. He didn’t have anything at all, save for a bottle of what he was pretty sure was Red Potion on his hip. 

Something splashed behind him, and Hyrule spun so his back was facing the lantern. He could feel the liquid on the floor seeping through his boots. A mummified creature emerged from the darkness: a Gibdo. Hyrule had fought Gibdos in his adventures before, but he didn’t have any weapons this time. The Gibdo shuffled closer, an inhuman moan echoing through the room. The hair on the back of Hyrule’s neck stood on end as he slowly backed away from the Gibdo, thinking of a possible way to defeat the enemy without his sword.  _ My magic!  _ He thought, relieved. Hyrule pointed a finger at the Gibdo, preparing to summon a fireball, but the best he got was a tiny spark and a disappointing sizzling noise. 

“No magic?” He whispered, eyes going wide. “Oh no.” Hyrule turned, trying to run from the Gibdo, though the beast was not moving any faster. He slipped and fell, tasting blood in his mouth and running down his face and soaking his shirt. Hyrule screamed, realizing all the liquid in the room was ankle-deep blood. He tried uncorking his Red Potion and drinking it, hoping the bitter and unappealing taste would free his mouth of the metallic blood. 

He choked as blood ran down his throat, and he threw the now half-empty bottle across the room with a strangled sob. There was nothing he could do. The Gibdo was getting closer, there was blood all over him and in his mouth, and he was going to die.  _ Wait.  _ Hyrule’s gaze focused on the lantern. He grabbed the lantern, ignoring the blood that splashed up his pants as he ran. Turning, Hyrule threw the lantern onto the Gibdo. The mummified creature burst into brilliant flames and disintegrated, as a light bloomed above him. It began to rain, clear pure water that washed away the blood and replaced it. Hyrule could’ve laughed with relief, save for the dark figure lurking in the back of the room, and the arrow that pierced his throat.

Hyrule woke up with a start, clutching his blankets.

“Woah there, Traveler!” Legend said. Hyrule looked up at him, face crumbling and began to sob into Legend’s arms.  _ I swear, Hylia, you and I are going to have quite the talk when I get up there.  _


	12. Linktober—Pumpkin

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> October 1! Spooky Season has begun! (Hey that rhymed)

The nine heroes appeared in the rugged terrain of Wild’s Hyrule. The hero this world belonged to grinned to himself as he saw that they were a mere three hours of traveling away from Kakariko Village. 

“We have to be at the village by sunset!” Wild said, hair whipping as he spun to face the other heroes. Most of them did not look out of sorts from the Switch, save for Hyrule, whose fingers were twitching, and Twilight, whose face was pale. Though, that always happened to the two of them and it had never held them back from traveling before. “Come on!”   
“Someone’s enthusiastic.” Legend whispered to Four, who nodded. 

“I wonder why. He’s typically been happy with roaming when we end up here.” The short hero mused. “I guess we’ll find out soon enough.” 

Due to Wild’s exclamations for them to hurry up, the heroes reached Kakariko in two and a half hours. Wind and Four had ended up on Twilight and Time’s shoulders, respectively, since their shorter legs meant they were falling behind. 

As the sun set over the mountains, it shined bright rays onto the thatched roofs of the village houses. A few cuccos, sitting on the roofs, let out their shrill calls as a notifying of the sunset. Legend, not to mention half the other heroes, unconsciously shivered as they glanced at the murderous birds. 

“So, care to explain why we ran ourselves ragged coming here?” Warriors asked dryly. 

“The Firefly Festival!” Wild said, as if that explained everything. 

“The what?” Wind was confused. 

“It’s a ceremony once a year, where the fireflies are  _ everywhere  _ and it’s  _ gorgeous. _ ” Wild’s expression became distant as he spoke. “And there’s a pumpkin carving competition, which I have yet to win.”

“Who typically wins?” Twilight said, cocking an eyebrow and deciding to take down this so-called “pumpkin carver”. Sky nodded, with the same plan in his head (albeit he was going to execute it in a much nicer way that Twilight was). 

“Paya.” Wild said, and Twilight gaped.

“The shy girl? The one who always blushes a lot?” Warriors clarified. He distinctly remembered making a comment on how nice the girl’s snow-white hair was, and she’d almost fainted. 

“Yep. She’s very good at carving pumpkins.”

“Huh.” Twilight was shocked.  _ Well, I can’t win against her. She doesn’t deserve that.  _ He thought. Sky was having the same train of thought, unsurprisingly. 

“I think the competition is actually any minute now, while it’s still light enough to see what you’re doing.” Wild said, looking around. Sure enough, there were two men setting up a long table with seven pumpkins on it. Paya, holding a thin knife no doubt for carving, chose her spot first, though she was glancing around nervously. Twilight and Sky rushed to grab two more spots. A pair of young girls from Kakariko chose the fourth pumpkin, and a man who was probably their father chose the fifth. With some discussion, Time and Legend were chosen as the other two competitors from the group of heroes. 

“Alright, contestants!” Began a man with a voice that projected remarkably well. “You have an hour to carve, then our panel of judges will choose the best pumpkin! And, as promised, these judges will have no bias for any of you!” The man turned, gesturing to three people sitting on stools: two merchants and a purple-finned Zora, each who waved. The merchants seemed unnerved by the Zora sitting next to them. “And… start!”

The competitors sprung into action. Sort of. Carving a pumpkin was not exactly a fast ordeal, as Wild had learned when he’d set out to carve his pumpkin in the final fifteen minutes of the competition. Legend looked like he was trying to find his way around carving a pumpkin, as if he’d never seen one before. Twilight and Sky had no such problem. They both had started by cutting off the tops of their pumpkins and scooping out the insides. Sky was using the large steel spoon provided. Twilight had tried that, but he’d bent the thing in half and was now using his hands. Shockingly, he even snuck a few of the raw seeds into his mouth, which Wild both admired and thought was disgusting. As the hour passed, the other heroes started to wander around the village as the fireflies emerged from their hiding places and Kakariko Village was alight with them. 

“And… time’s up!” The man said with a clap. Wild startled; it hadn’t felt like an hour yet. “Everyone, turn your pumpkins around so we can see what you’ve done!” As each pumpkin spun, Wild ran his eyes over the finished products. Time had carved a carrot with remarkably clean cuts. Legend’s image was a rather shaky rabbit face, which seemed an odd choice. Wild had half-expected him to carve obscenities into his pumpkin. The older villager’s image was a crescent moon. Not very elaborate, but it was well-executed. The two girls, through quite the show of standing on each other’s shoulders (a decidedly unsafe feat, especially when carving knives were involved) had made what looked like a cupcake. Sky had carved clouds in all shapes and sizes, though they were all equally fluffy and round. Wild had to give him credit for that; carving round shapes into a pumpkin was hard. Twilight had made a sketch of an Ordon goat, since the actual ring of horns would’ve meant that he would’ve ended up with a chunk of pumpkin in the shape of a goat’s head. Even so, it was impressive.

And finally, Paya’s carving. Wild was continuously stunned by the girl’s workmanship (and had even been embarrassed by it, when she’d carved a near-perfect image of his face), and she did not disappoint. She had carved the front of Impa’s house in all its integrity, even shaving off bits of pumpkin so light from the candles they would put inside in a few moments would glow through the thin sheet of pumpkin. Wild had tried the “half carve” technique before, and all he’d gotten was a cut finger. Paya, on the other hand, was a master at it. The three judges conversed amongst themselves for a few moments. Then, in sync, they pointed at Paya. 

“And Paya wins again! That’s her seventh consecutive win!” The man said with a grin. Paya’s face turned bright red and she dashed up the stairs to Impa’s house. “Well, she can collect her prize tomorrow.” This drew laughs from the onlookers that suggested this was a relatively normal occurrence. “Everyone, please enjoy the Firefly Festival!”


	13. Linktober—Campfire

“Alright, campfire’s set and ready to go!” Wild put his hands on his hips and looked very proud of himself. Which, considering the fire he’d set up in a matter of moments, was reasonable. 

“Thanks, Wild.” Four said as he sat on a log that Twilight had brought around the fire. “It was starting to get cold.”

“Who wants to roast marshmallows?” Warriors asked. 

“Roast what?” Sky said. 

“You don’t know what marshmallows are?” Warriors said, appalled. “Do any of you?” His expression only grew more dramatic as the heroes shook their heads. “Well, we have to change that! Wild, do you have any long metal sticks?”

“Metal sticks? No; would arrows work?”

“They should.” Warriors conceded. “Give one to each of us.” As Warriors accepted his arrow, he rummaged around in his pack and took out a bag full of tiny white puffy… things. “See, this is a marshmallow. It’s like fluffy sugar, and if you roast them over a fire, they get nice and gooey and  _ delicious _ . They’re pretty good cold, too.” To prove his point, the captain popped a marshmallow in his mouth. 

“Oooh! Can I try one?” Wind said. He held out his hands as Warriors handed him a marshmallow, then stuffed it in his face. “Those  _ are _ delicious!” He exclaimed. “I wanna roast one!”

“Who wants to try?” Warriors looked around the campfire with a very amused look on his face. All of the heroes raised their hands, even Time and Legend. Warriors handed each of them a marshmallow, which they speared on the ends of their arrows.

“So… just hold it over the fire?” Sky asked. Warriors nodded. “For how long?”

“As long as you want. I typically wait until it’s almost melted off the arrow before eating it, but you can keep it there for a few seconds or ten minutes, it’s up to you.” 

“Huh.” Sky held his marshmallow out over the fire as the other heroes mimicked him. There were a few moments of contented silence, which were promptly broken by a cry from Hyrule. 

“Mine’s on fire!” He blew furiously at the marshmallow until its flames went out. The marshmallow was more bubbly and black than fluffy and white, now. “Aww, man!”

“You can still eat it.” Warriors prompted. “Though I never have.” Hyrule looked dubiously at his marshmallow before shrugging, removing it from the arrow, and eating it. 

“Oh! That’s good! Do you have any more?”   
“A few more, but don’t eat more than two or three, or you’ll get a stomach ache.”

“Got it.” Hryule then proceeded to stick his entire marshmallow into the heart of the flames. 

“Hey Pup, yours is about to fall off.” Time pointed out. Twilight jumped and held out a hand to catch his marshmallow as it melted right off the arrow and into his palm. Glancing around, as if there weren’t eight other heroes mere feet away from him, he bent his head and ate the marshmallow right off his hand. A considerable amount of it got on his face as opposed to in his mouth, and Time held back a smile. Legend, on the other hand, had no such qualms. 

“Heathen.” He said. Twilight scowled at him, but the expression didn’t fit with how he was holding his hand out like a small child for Warriors to hand him another marshmallow, which the captain did with pleasure. 

“I still can’t believe none of you have had these before! They were  _ essential  _ after a long battle.” Warriors took his marshmallow from the fire. The treat was a toasted golden brown, perfectly cooked—just how he’d planned it to be. 

“Well I suppose we should thank you for introducing us, then.” Wild said. “I am totally going to figure out how to make these.” He had lit his marshmallow on fire too, after watching Hyrule do it. 

_ This is a nice way to end a day of hard travel.  _ Time thought to himself as the heroes talked and laughed and ate. It was nice indeed, to see them all acting their age as opposed to acting the age Hylia’s missions had forced them to become. And no, he was definitely not smiling as he ate a marshmallow, and no, the seven-year-old in him was not rejoicing at the pure sugar being put into his system. Absolutely not. 


	14. Linktober—Warm

Wild’s Hyrule was a pain. Sure, it was pretty, but it was also pretty cold. Twilight’s was the only one to rival it, but Twilight’s Hyrule didn’t come anywhere near the subzero temperatures of Wild’s. It was dumb, for something to be this cold.

This was what Wind was muttering to himself as he curled up in a regrettably not insulated blanket next to a fire Wild had set up about an hour prior. Wild himself was on watch, and most of the other heroes were asleep—save for Twilight, who had gone out scouting, despite Time’s warnings not to. Four, much to the shortest hero’s chagrin, had ended up sleeping cuddled beside Hyrule, since the cold could be dangerous to someone of his size. Wind wasn’t much bigger than Four, but the heroes knew how much he hated being treated differently than any of them: thus, he was going to be sleeping in the cold. 

A very familiar whine interrupted his thoughts as Wolfie trotted into the camp, seemingly not bothered by the chill in the slightest. Which made sense, considering he had a thick layer of fur as opposed to Wind’s not-so-thick blanket. Wolfie cocked his head at Wind and whined again. Wind realized he was shivering, and had probably made the canine worried about him. 

“I’m fine, Wolfie. The air sure is cold, though.” At this, Wolfie’s ears perked up. He walked over to Wind and curled up, pressing his warm body against Wind’s. Wind smiled to himself. Wolfie was incredibly warm. Even his nose, which normally felt freezing, was more of a comfortably cool feeling against Wind’s face. Wind snuggled into Wolfie’s fur, not commenting on the amused noise the animal made in the back of his throat. “Oh, hush. I said I was cold, didn’t I?” Wolfie seemed to give Wind a point for that, and he laid his furry head on the ground as Wind warmed his hands in the gray wolf’s thick fur. 

“Nice and warm there, Ranch Hand?” The smirk in Warriors’ voice was audible as Twilight blinked open his eyes and found himself hugging Wind, who was awake but was not daring to move. He quickly scrambled backwards, face turning the color of beets as Wind stared at him with wide eyes. The sailor looked pointedly at Twilight’s pelt and then held a finger to his mouth. Twilight sighed in relief, feeling some of the red color drain from his face. “Seems like Sky’s not the only cuddler in the group.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this ones short
> 
> Also, I referenced a fic someone else wrote in this fandom see if you can figure out what fic it was


	15. Linktober—Surprise

“I don’t like this  _ at all _ .” Sky decided as they walked into a cave, Legend in the lead. The room was empty, though it was patterned with colorful tiles. The emptiness was exactly what put the heroes on edge: most of their adventures, a suspiciously empty room meant an enemy was going to appear and try to take their heads off.

“Oh I know what this is—everyone, shields up!” Legend raised his voice, and the anxiety creeping into his tone was more than enough to send the Links scrambling for their shields as the tiles in the room began to shake.

“Oh no, Tile Worms?” Twilight muttered. He moved to draw his boomerang, but Legend held out a hand.

“I have no idea what a Tile Worm is. Just hold out your shield and get ready.”

“Ready for what—ah!” Twilight cut himself off as a tile  _ flew  _ across the room and slammed into his shield, knocking the Ordonian to the ground. Time, holding up a shield of his own, helped his protegé up and back on his feet as the tiles began to rise with considerable vigor. The heroes subconsciously formed a circle, their backs together and shields pointing out, each one serving as a wall for the other to hit when a tile attacked them. Wind and Four were having the most trouble, due to their size, but the fact that they were back-to-back with Sky and Twilight effectively neutralized the problem. Legend even went so far as to slash at the tiles with his sword, a maneuver that he yelled for the others not to repeat. 

When the tiles stopped spinning and flying, Legend sucked in a breath of air and turned to the inquisitive faces of his friends.    
“Uh… surprise? My Hyrule has evil flying tiles?” 

“What the  _ heck _ , Legend.” 


	16. Linktober—Companions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I’m flat out disappointed with this one I dont think I did a good job but here you go :/

“Um… Time?” Hyrule chewed on his fingernails as he walked next to Time, who, though he was not glaring by any means, still was considerably intimidating. 

“Yes, Hyrule? What do you need?” Time side eyed the brunette. 

“I have a question, but… it’s kinda personal. F-For you, I mean.”

“Well, I can’t promise that I’ll answer, but ask away.” 

“Who were you looking for? At the ranch. Malon told me you were looking for a fairy to come back; that’s why you had the sugar water out.” Time looked down at the ground for a moment and sighed, then looked back up and at seemingly nothing. 

“I was waiting for someone.” He said, with a grim finality to his voice. “A… companion.”

“A fairy companion?”

“Yes. Her name was Navi. She helped me get started on my quest. I had another companion on a different journey of mine, but Navi’s leaving hurt a lot more than the other’s did. She might’ve been one of the most annoying creatures I have ever met, but… I still miss her.” Time’s voice quieted. Hyrule paused, trying to figure out what to say. 

“I never had a companion. I never really had anyone to tell me what to do.” He admitted, hating the way his voice cracked. “I was just shoved into my wasteland of a world and told ‘hey, go save a princess!’ and then I did, I guess. It sounds so trivial when I say it that way.” He laughed. “You had to struggled through hours and hours and years of puzzles, when all I did was run around and kill some stuff—”

“Hyrule, I won’t hear anyone talking like that. Let alone a Hero of Courage. You are just as incredible as I am, if not more so. The fact that you figured everything out on your own is a testament to that.” Time put a hand on Hyrule’s shoulder. “Companions… they make things easier. I can’t even imagine doing my quest without Navi. I know for a fact that Twilight’s companion got him out of some rough spots, too.” Hyrule thought he heard Time mutter “and put him in quite the rough spot when she left”, but that was probably just his imagination. 

“Do you really think that about me? That I’m just as good of a hero as you are?”

“No, I don’t. You’re better.” Time said, and he was being 100% honest. 


	17. Linktober—Fall

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Warnings for blood and death yayyy

Link hung by his wrists in a dark, damp, and cold room with musty water that continuously dripped onto his head and ran down the once-angular cuve of his nose. Said nose was crooked enough to be a crumpled piece of paper by now. His hands had gone completely numb… had it been five days ago? Time was a challenge down here. 

Oh, ha ha. He was the Hero of Time, and he couldn’t even tell the time. The thought alone was enough to tear a very hysterical laugh from Link’s throat that shook his whole body and devolved into sobs with no tears. Tears had stopped coming a few hours ago. Link supposed he only had so many tears in him, and he’d already used them all up. He was only twelve. 

He laughed again. From the moment Ganondorf had thrown him in here, or rather hung him up like a piece of laundry, he’d known he would die. He just hadn’t expected it to take this long. You would think that the near-lack of air that he was managing to suck in would’ve ended him by now. But no, Hylia seemed to want him to suffer a few more moments. 

Hylia. Yet another person to beat up once he died. It was her fault he’d been shoved into all this mess. It was her fault he was hanging six feet off the ground and waiting to either suffocate or starve. Or maybe just die any other way. Frankly, Link didn’t really care anymore. He’d given up any hope of being saved when his first—and only—escape attempt had resulted in him losing an eye. 

He’d nearly forgotten about the eye, actually. The feeling of emptiness and the sensation of dried blood on his face had faded, as had most of his other senses. He wasn’t sure he could actually do much beyond hear and see from the eye he had left, at this point. Even if someone freed him, there was no way he would be able to get out of here alive. 

He closed his eye. His breathing shallowed, then stopped. His heartbeat followed suit, and the Hero of Time was no more. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay I feel like a read a super similar oneshot somewhere on here so if anyone finds it please let me know


	18. Linktober—Graveyard

The moon cast its light through the window as Warriors sat, his head in his hands, and let his mind wander. They’d appeared in his Hyrule that day, and the Switch had been jarring enough to validate a day of sleep and calm for the heroes. Everyone else was asleep, but Warriors didn’t feel like he could fall asleep, even if he’d wanted to. Something was bugging him. 

He sighed and stood up, grabbing his sword as he walked outside—just in case. 

Outside, the night air was cold and Warriors regretted not putting on an extra layer of clothing. It was a crisp night, one of the kinds that stings your lungs as you breathe, and yet it doesn’t hurt. The trees’ leaves rustled as a breeze blew through them, coupling with the odd owl hooting and making this an ideal night for a walk. 

Warriors had a specific place in mind, though. He wasn’t just going to wander around. 

He followed a path through some trees, taking in how the moon dappled the forest floor with spots of shimmering silver as he arrived at his destination: a clearing, and a very large one at that, with nothing but headstones as far as the eye could see. Warriors had fought alongside most of the people lying in this field. Some of the headstones had leaves or grass blown onto them, which Warriors brushed away. There were flowers by some too, but an equal amount had nothing on or around them. 

_ I failed all these people.  _ Warriors thought bitterly.  _ They’re all dead because of me.  _ He leaned down and looked at one of the headstones: 

**Nik Lyon. Lived fifteen glorious years. Died in service to Princess Zelda.**

Died in service. Warriors could’ve laughed. This was a  _ fifteen year old kid  _ who had had to fight in a war against monsters and demons that most children would never see or even know about. And died in service to Zelda? No. That  _ kid _ had died serving the captain of his squad. Which had probably been Warriors himself. He’d known some of the names of his cadets, but had realized quickly that it was more painful to lose troops if you knew things about them. 

Warriors didn’t even realize he was crying until a tear fell onto the headstone and darkened it. After that, it was a hard battle to keep from outright sobbing until he heard a voice behind him. 

“War? Are you okay?” He turned, catching a glimpse of shaggy brown hair and a white cloak before he fell to his knees, shoulders trembling. 

“I k-killed all these people, Sky.” He said in a broken voice. Sky sat next to him, putting an arm around his shoulder. “They’re all dead because of me.”

“No, War, they’re not. You didn’t kill them. They chose to fight for their kingdom.”

“B-But I was supposed to keep them alive. I was s-supposed to make sure no one d-died.”

“People die in war.” Sky said bluntly, though not rudely. He was taking a similar tone of voice to the one he’d used with the timid Kikwis in his adventure. “It’s just what happens. I know for a fact that you winning that war saved thousands more people from dying.” 

“But I couldn’t save these ones.” 

“You can’t save everyone. I’m sure you tried to keep as many of your troops alive as possible—” 

“I did.” Warriors coughed into his fist as Sky began rubbing circles on his back. 

“Then you did everything that you could’ve. It wasn’t your fault.”  _ If anything, it was mine for not killing Demise the right way.  _ He thought, but he wisely did not voice that thought. “Please, War, you have to believe that. You have to realize it wasn’t your fault.”

“I don’t know if I’m ready yet.” 

“Then that’s okay too. Just… try to work up to it.”

“…okay. I think I can try.”

“I’m glad to hear that. Sky stood up and offered a hand to Warriors, which the other boy accepted. “Let’s get back before Twilight gives us a lecture on disappearing in the middle of the night.” 


	19. Linktober—ReDead

Link snuck through the crypt, sword held before him as he tried to make as little noise as possible. He didn’t want to attract any more attention, certainly not after he’d broken his nose trying to get into this dumb crypt in the first place. 

There were bodies, standing limply in the hallway before him. Link did not want to go anywhere near those bodies, but he knew that they were in the direction of where he needed to be. He sighed and muttered a curse under his breath that would’ve made Saria turn red (he’d heard it from a guard around Hyrule Castle) as he slowly shuffled forward, wincing every time his shield rattled against his back. The bodies gave no indication that they knew he was approaching, but that did nothing to calm his already frayed nerves. 

As Link drew near, close enough that he could’ve reached out and touched one had he felt even the  _ slightest  _ inclination to, the body suddenly sprung to life with an ear splitting shriek that made his every sense scream for him to run. 

And run he would’ve, had he been able to move his legs. He was quite literally rooted to the spot with fear, and he was helpless as the creature moved forward, its scream still echoing through the crypt, and wrapped its shriveled arms around him.

Time shot forward, blankets flying off him as his quick and sharp breaths filled the campsite. Wind, who had begged and begged and  _ begged  _ to be on watch, scrambled to his feet as he was startled from his vigil. 

“Time? Are you okay?” Time couldn’t manage words, just a frantic head shake. “O-Okay, um, can I do anything? Can I touch you?” Wind’s statement only made Time more upset, and the older hero flinched. “Alright, that’s a no.” Wind trailed off and bit his lip. “Oh, what would Twi do…” Wind walked over to Time, being sure to keep his movements slow and give Time a wide range of personal space. “I’m here for you to talk to, if you need me to be.” 

“I’m… okay.” Time managed to say. He was lying. “Thanks. Go back… to watch.” 

“Time, please don’t lie. I can tell you’re not okay.”   
“I can’t… talk about it right now.” Time tried, he really did, to push the images of the ReDeads from his mind. “I just can’t.”   
“Was there a monster in your dream?” Wind asked. Time’s head jerked up in surprise. “What was it called?”

“R-ReDead.” Time said, and just saying the name made him want to cry or sob or scream. 

“You fought ReDeads?” Wind’s voice sounded… like he knew what a ReDead was. 

“H-Have you?”

“Yeah, I fought a couple of ‘em. Don’t like them. They’re terrifying.”   
“Indeed they are.” Time said as his breathing began to slow to a more normal speed. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t be… telling you some sob story about my life.”   
“I’m willing to listen to any story, sob story or otherwise.” Wind moved just a bit closer to Time. 

“I’m still not ready to talk about it.” Time said reluctantly. 

“Then don’t talk about it. Just… please don’t hold in all that. You don’t have to.”

“Alright, Wind.” Time turned and offered Wind a smile. “Thank you.”

“Of course, Time.” 


	20. Linktober—Forest

All of the Link’s homelands had beautiful forests (well, except for maybe Hyrule’s, since it was mostly wasteland, but even that could be considered beautiful in its own way), but Sky’s Faron Woods were one of the best. It had a central tree that gave the majority of the forest shade, almost no monsters after patrols had done away with them, and the amount of tall trees and gnarled roots made for a wonderful climbing environment (much to Wild’s delight and Twilight’s subsequent worrying).

Needless to say, they were all relieved when their most recent Switch dumped them in Faron Woods. 

“I think we’re due for a little rest.” Time said, looking around at the sleep-deprived faces of the heroes. Being stuck in Hyrule’s world for four days had not been beneficial for most of them, except maybe Hyrule and Wild (who had gotten to do a bit of exploring during the meager times Twilight and Legend had been asleep). 

“Thank Hylia.” Warriors said as he dumped his stuff onto the ground and sat down. Sky didn’t even bother to thank Time before laying down in the soft grass. He was out like a light in a matter of moments, adding his soft snoring to the sounds of birds in the forest. Wind and Four quickly followed suit. 

“Hyrule! Wanna go exploring?” Wild asked. Hyrule, surprisingly, shook his head. 

“I’m pretty tired, Wild. Sorry, but I just want to sleep.” He sat down. 

“Oh. That’s okay!” Wild said, turning to Twilight, who was rubbing at his eyes. “Twilight, will you go exploring with me?”

“Of course I will, Cub.” Twilight said despite the fact that he was about to fall asleep standing up. Time opened his mouth to tell the both of them to stay, but held back for two reasons: one, Wild looked  _ incredibly  _ excited, and two, the Woods didn’t have any hard to defeat monsters. 

“Have fun, then.” Time decided. Wild looked at him in shock. 

“Thanks.” He said in a tone that suggested he did not believe Time was actually going to let him do what he wanted. Twilight covered a yawn with a hand as he followed Wild into the forest, and Time rolled his eyes. It seemed that even with two hours of sleep, his Pup was insistent on not being tired. 

Two hours later, all of the other heroes were sound asleep, and none of them seemed to be having nightmares, not even Legend. Time had decided he was going to stay awake until Twilight and Wild returned, and had almost fallen asleep so many times that he’d resorted to using his All Night Mask in order to remain conscious. 

The fact that Wild and Twilight had not returned by now was worrying. Time sighed and stood up, putting the All Night Mask back in his pack (at least for now). He strode through the Faron Woods. The sun was beginning to set, turning the whole forest a shade of orange. Time personally thought it was very pretty, but Sky had mentioned not liking the way the forest looked at dusk. Something about Guardians and being awake. None of it had made much sense to Time.

He explored both vigorously and carefully; he wanted to find Wild and Twilight as fast as possible, but he didn’t want to alert any remaining monsters to his presence or startle the easily scared Kikwis that inhabited the Woods. 

Because he was so busy looking ahead of him, Time almost tripped over Wild’s foot. He spun, seeing Twilight and Wild asleep against a root of the massive tree. They had evidently gotten tired while exploring. Wild’s face was turned towards Twilight’s fur pelt, and Twilight had a hand on Wild’s shoulder. It was, needless to say, extremely heartwarming. Time couldn’t help but smile. Once again, seeing the boys he had come to think of as family acting like boys, like the children and young adults they were, was relieving. 


	21. Linktober—Dark

Hateno Village was exactly as Wild remembered. Made from sandstone, with a river that cut through it and houses that climbed up the hill and led to the Tech Lab at its summit. The lamps were blazing with their blue flames. The heroes were gathered in front of the Kochi Dye Shop, standing around as Sayge (the shop’s owner) brought out eight barrels of brightly colored dye: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, pink, and white. 

“These glow, when it gets dark.” He explained. “And it’s going to be a new moon tonight.”

“So it’ll be extra dark.” Wild added. 

“That could be fun.” Four said. “Let’s try it, before the sun sets.” He proceeded to stick his hand into the red dye and slap a red handprint on one side of his face. A blue handprint followed suit, as did a green and purple one. Wind, grinning widely, put his fingers in the blue dye and painted a stripe down his nose and stripes under his eyes. Orange stripes layered beneath the blue ones, which had more blue ones layered beneath them, until his entire face was a network of blue and orange stripes. Time, shockingly, painted over the marks on his face with dye of the same color. Hyrule gave himself yellow spots, sorta like freckles, over his cheeks and a bit down his neck. Legend refused to participate until Hyrule and Warriors pestered him into doing so. The Veteran settled for three white stripes on his cheeks. Warriors said they looked like whiskers and got a slap in the face. 

Speaking of Warriors, the Captain used the red dye to paint swirls that branched away from his eyes and trailed down his face like fire. It was surprisingly detailed. Sky, with a bit of help from Warriors, had pink and white wing designs around his eyes. Twilight had traced the design on his forehead in blue paint, and had an orange crescent on his cheek. Wild, who had looked extremely excited, put yellow dye over the scars on the left side of his face, and painted almost every inch of the rest of his face with white dye. A good amount of it got in his hair. 

As the sun set, the paint started to glow. Wind looked down at his fingers, which still had residual paint on them. 

“Woah! That’s awesome!”

“Makes me wish I’d done more with the paint.” Warriors said, even though his entire face was lit up like a campfire. 

“Nothing’s stopping you, Captain.” Time said. “You can always do more.”

“That is true.” Warriors agreed. However, he refrained from putting more paints on his face. 

“This is beautiful, Wild.” Hyrule’s eyes were wide as he looked around at Hateno Village, with the blue lamps lighting up the town as children ran up to jars of dye and began painting their faces. 

“It really is, isn’t it.” 


	22. Linktober—Ghost

Twilight woke, a chill drawing him from sleep, as he sat up in his bed. They had landed at Outset Island, and the villagers had made sure all the heroes had real beds to sleep in, if they’d wanted them. 

There was an orb of teal flame sitting beside his bed: a spirit. Twilight backed up, putting a hand on his Shadow Crystal and morphing into his wolf form. When he strained his senses, the spirit was revealed to be a little girl, maybe about eight, with a puff of hair tied back in a ponytail. She looked like she was crying. 

“Please… come with me…” She said in a small and ethereal voice that swept through the room and made Twilight shake out his fur as if someone had dumped water on him. The girl drifted down the ladder and to the door, and Twilight leapt down, grateful for the rug that muffled the sound of his impact. The girl flicked a hand, swung open the door, and glid out into the night. Twilight followed closely behind her, making sure to stay on guard. Most of the ghosts he’d met had been friendly, but there had been Death Sword and the Poes, so he was not convinced that following a mysterious dead girl through the night was a good idea. 

The girl came to a halt, floating above a spot of earth next to a fence that contained a massive pig. 

“Dig… right here…” The girl said. Twilight huffed, sinking his claws in the soft ground and shoveling away dirt as he tunneled with the girl looking over his shoulder. The dirt gave way, dropping Twilight into a small hollow that smelled like the sea. There was a small rock, pinkish in color and striped through with gray, sitting in the middle of the cave. “That’s my grave…” The ghost said. “It’s lonely… and blank…” The girl turned her gaze on Twilight, a question in her eyes. “Will you get… something for my lonely… grave…?” Twilight gave a sharp nod, leaping back out of the cavern and running down to the beach. The girl zipped after him, a giggle floating on the breeze. Twilight clamped a pale blue seashell between his teeth and dropped it off at the grave. He grabbed a white seashell next, then another blue one, and he was also lucky enough to spot a small glimmering bracelet drifting up onto the shore. 

The girl’s grave was bedazzled with shells and the bracelet by the time Twilight, panting, finished with it. 

“Thank you…” She said softly, before going over to her grave and admiring the gifts. Twilight left, changed back to his human form, and laid in bed.  _ That was an adventure.  _ He thought to himself. 


	23. Linktober—Dungeon

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I struggled with this one a lot until I decided “screw it let’s try something poetic” and I am in no means a poet so sorry if this is bad

Some people would describe their minds as prisons: cold, monotonous, repressive. Other people had dungeons: freezing, lonely, and even torturous. 

Twilight decided, sitting next to his protegé while the boy was being clutched by a memory, that Wild had a dungeon mind. 

It just wasn’t fair, that Wild had to deal with memories of someone he  _ used _ to be, and who he  _ used _ to know, and what he  _ used _ to be like. No one should have to live through what they can’t go back to. Sure, all the heroes got stuck in their memories from time to time (Legend and Twilight himself more than most), but all of Wild’s memories came as shocks. They happened unexpectedly, and showed him things he had no control over and didn’t know. 

His friendship with Mipha. 

His protectiveness of Zelda. 

His death. 

It wasn’t right. Twilight was typically not vindictive towards Hylia: unlike Time or Legend. But what his protegé had to suffer through was making him consider altering his alignment. 

Because while Twilight’s mind was a prison, Wild’s was a dungeon. 


	24. Linktober—Jump Scare

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m not very happy with this one either but here you go!

“But as he approached, the ghost was right behind him! Chasing him, screaming at him, trying to eat him.” Wind’s voice rose and fell as he told his story, moving his hands theatrically. The other heroes, though they were trying to not act scared, were clearly intimidated. Even Legend, judging by the white knuckles on his sword hilt. “The hero yelled for help, and shouted for someone to hear, but there was no one  _ to  _ hear. The ghost had already gotten them all. Suddenly, he tripped!” Wind clapped, and the others flinched. “A toothy, bloodthirsty smile split the ghost’s face in half as he approached the hero, grabbing him in its chilling grasp and taking a bite of his delicious flesh.” 

“Is…” Sky swallowed nervously. “Is that how it ends?”   
“That’s all I know of it.” Wind said. 

“That wasn’t that scary.” Twilight said, though he had been chewing on his fingernails through the entirety of the story. 

“I thought it was.” A deep voice said from directly behind Twilight. The Ordonian spun, coming face-to-face with Warriors, wearing a mask in the likeness of a Twilit Beast. Twilight shrieked and fell backwards off the log he had been sitting on. Warriors, taking the mask off, threw his head back and laughed. Twilight, once he had regained control of his breathing, glared. 

“Why would you do that? Do it to Time!” He flung out a hand and pointed at his mentor. “Geez, Captain.”

“I didn’t know you were so easy to scare.” Warriors teased. 

“I’m not.” Twilight said irritably, stomping his foot. “You startled me, you didn’t scare me.” 

“Oh really?” Warriors raised an eyebrow. “Likely story.” 

“You didn’t!” 


	25. Linktober—Alone (Together)

As he tumbled out of the portal, Sky instantly realized that no one was around him. The other heroes weren’t helping each other up and cursing about the portals. 

“Hello?” He called, his words getting no response as they rang through the woods. “Guys?” 

“A friend! Heehee!” A shrill and childish voice said. Sky spun, his hand coming up to draw the Master Sword. The voice belonged to a diminutive figure who skipped out of the woods. It had a dark face with a pair of large, reddish eyes, and what looked like a duck’s bill for a mouth. Its clothing (a shirt, pants, and a large hat) looked as if they were made from red and green leaves. A Skull Kid. 

“Hello friend!” The Skull Kid chirped. Sky blinked. He remembered Twilight mentioning that Skull Kids were thieves, but this one just seemed excited and curious. “Wanna play?”

“Play what?”

“A game!”

“Alright, what game do you want to play?”

“Hmmm…” The Skull Kid tapped a finger on its chin. “What about the rhyming game?”

“I’ve never played that.” Sky said, sitting down. “How do you play?” 

“I say a word, and then you say a word that rhymes! We go until someone repeats a word or can’t think of one! It’s super fun!” The Skull Kid startled giggling. “I made a rhyme!”

“That does sound fun.” Sky agreed. “What word are we starting with?”

“Hmm… ail!”

“Pail.”

“Trail.”   
“Tail.”

“Snail.” They went back and forth like this for a while: ail, pail, trail, tail, snail, stale, bail, grail, quail, sail, kale, mail, rail, veil, wail, dale, until Sky thought for too long and got stumped. 

“Heehee! I won I won I won!” The Skull Kid exclaimed, clapping its hands in delight. Sky laughed. 

“That you did. Good job!”

“Thanks! Do you wanna look for your other friends now?” The Skull Kid cocked its head, giving off the impression of being a puppy. 

“Sure! Will you help me?”

“Yep!” The two of them stood, and started walking through the forest. The Skull Kid almost immediately led Sky to a clearing, where the eight heroes were waiting in an uneasy circle. 

“Sky!” Wind exclaimed, running over and giving his friend a hug. 

“Glad to see you’re alright.” Twilight said. “Did the Skull Kid give you any trouble?”

“No, I didn’t! I found him, just like I said I would!” 

“Good job, then.” Time praised. “Do you want to play hide and seek before we have to go?”

“Yes yes! I wanna seek!” The Skull Kid said, covering its eyes. “One, two, three, four…” The heroes scrambled to find their hiding spots. “Seven, eight, nine, ten! I’m coming!”


	26. Linktober—Hunted

Twilight, in his wolf form, was beginning to regret going on his scouting mission. 

True, he often regretted the missions slightly, since they resulted in him having to lie to his friends and sometimes getting attacked by monsters, but his current situation was extremely problematic. 

His back leg was stuck in some sort of very sharp animal trap that dug far too deeply into his flesh, and he had no idea where he was. He’d been running away from one of Wild’s Lizalfos, after chipping a tooth trying to bite it and realizing he was not going to be able to defeat it in wolf form, he’d decided to run. His human form could probably have been useful in retrospect, but he hadn’t been thinking about changing back in the moment. 

He howled again, the sound half pain and half a cry for help. It was getting dark; he was probably going to get eaten by something if the other heroes didn’t find him soon.  _ Or…  _ he thought.  _ I could try to chew myself out of the trap.  _ He’d heard stories of foxes chewing their own legs off in order to escape traps, but the very idea of doing that for himself made him sick.  _ Could I change back? Would that work?  _ It was worth a shot, he supposed. Having his strong muscles in the form of arms and hands as opposed to feet and paws might mean he could pry the trap off his leg. He closed his eyes in concentration, drawing on the shadow magic in him. 

The transformation happened quickly and with almost no pain, as it usually did. 

The lack of pain ended as quickly as it had come, as the trap reminded him it was there by digging its metal teeth into his thigh. He screamed; a raw sound that ripped itself from his throat and echoed through the forest. He struggled to remain conscious and keep his breathing under control. Breathing came first, with full consciousness staying just barely out of reach. Twilight rested his head on the ground. His entire body  _ hurt _ , which was just unreasonable considering only his leg was actually injured. 

Twilight shook himself back to some semblance of being awake and tried to stand up. He had to get back to Wild, and Time, and the others before something bad happened to them. He didn’t even make it to a kneeling position before more pain came rushing at him. 

It was too much, he thought, before his grasp on coherency fled. 

“ —ight! Twilight!  _ Twilight! Wake up! _ ” Someone was shaking him. Roughly. Twilight blinked, looking up at an admittedly blurry face that he thought was Wild. 

“Cub? What—” Twilight didn’t get to finish his sentence, as Wild hugged him tightly enough to suffocate him. “How did you find me?”

“We heard you. Screaming.” Warriors’ expression was hard, but also concerned. “Time took the trap off.” Twilight realized that his leg was bandaged instead of in the grip of that awful metal mouth. “How did you get stuck in that?”

“It’s complicated.” Twilight was relieved that his friends didn’t realize he was Wolfie; he didn’t need them drawing weapons to skewer him with at the moment. “Whatever hunter is in that woods, they’re going to be pretty confused when they find that bloody trap with nothing in it.”   
“Let them be confused, then.” Wild said. “Serves them right.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for 200 kudos! I appreciate it ♥️


	27. Linktober—Battlefield

Dark Link, or simply Dark as he had been called once, surveyed the battle with a grim expression. He was not going to partake in the fighting, heavens no, but he wanted to get a good look at how the nine Heroes of Courage fought; whether they fought as a unit or as nine individuals. Thus far, they were doing a disgustingly good job dismembering and killing the Bokoblins he had sent after them. The Hero of Time, the Hero of the Sky, and the Hero of Winds were in a group, each using their swords to slice through the enemies. The Hero of Winds’ massive spin attack was coming in handy, though he was stunned momentarily after using it. Dark filed this away for further use. 

Across the battle, the Hero of Legend and the Hero of the Four Sword were fighting. The Hero of the Four Sword was using the sword for which he was named in a variety of very innovative techniques that would have been intimidating, had the hero not been the size of the Bokoblins he was fighting. The Hero of Legend was not using his sword, at least not yet. He was using the Fire and Ice Rods, one in his right hand and one in his left, and defeating enemies in a combination of flames and frost. Even from here, there was a distinct smell of burning flesh. 

The Hero of Twilight was fighting with his protege, the Hero of the Wild, and the Hero of Hyrule. Each had a very different way of fighting, but they seemed to work together remarkably well. The Hero of Twilight was using a ball and chain that he had gotten from who knows where, bludgeoning Bokoblins and sending them flying. The Hero of Hyrule was using his sword, with its magical flaming projectiles. Dark had seen him use magic before, but that hadn’t been used yet in this battle. The Hero of the Wild had a very… reckless style of fighting. He was swinging with wild abandon at the enemies with a rusted sword, but even though the sword was not in the best condition it did its job remarkably well. 

And finally, the Hero of Warriors. Dark had fought this hero numerous times, in numerous different forms, and he had never won. He had come  _ painfully _ close one time, but the Hero of Warriors had not been alone then. Well, he was alone now, and he was still holding his own almost as well as the heroes in groups. His sword was slashed so quickly it was a blur, and he ducked and rolled under Bokoblin’s strikes like a dancer. Monsters came at him in waves, and he felled them in waves. 

Even watching his forces be annihilated, Dark Link laughed. The heroes may have thought they had things under control then, but he had plans for them. Plans that would be problematic for them and glorious for him. 


	29. Linktober—Injured

Legend woke up aching all over, from injuries long since scarred. He glanced outside, towards the mouth of the cave they were in, and saw that it was raining. Figures, Hylia would send them rain when rain made all their lives harder. 

He sat up, muscles screaming, and looked at the other heroes. They were all awake, probably having been woken by their scars like he had. Wild seemed to be having the hardest time, which made perfect sense, considering he had way more scars than any of the other heroes. He was curled into a ball and leaning against Twilight with his eyes squeezed shut. Twilight kept bringing a hand up to his shoulder and wincing. Legend had seen glimpses of a massive scar there before, and he could imagine that it hurt a lot. Time was doing a good job of concealing his pain, other than the winces that crossed his face whenever he moved to talk or to smile. Four wasn’t interacting with the group; he was sitting in a corner and seemingly lost in thought. It happened to the smallest hero a lot, so Legend wasn’t concerned. Sky, judging by the slump of his shoulders, had very sore arms. Warriors seemed to share the same problem. Legend supposed it was possible that Sky had damaged his wrist with his fancy swordplay, and Warriors swung his sword so quickly it was a miracle that he hadn't dislocated his shoulder fighting yet. 

Then again, maybe he had. It was hard to be sure. 

Hyrule was doubled over, hands wrapped around his middle. The scar on his stomach was probably throbbing, and his fingers were twitching too: a result of his magic, perhaps. Wind, though he was trying desperately to act as if nothing was wrong, was wincing every time he moved his head, as if his neck was sore. 

“I think,” Time began, working his jaw, “that we can take a day off today.” 

“I can travel.” Wild lied. “You don’t have to all sit around just for me.” 

“We’re all hurting, Wild.” Twilight assured him. “We’re not stopping for you, at least not just you.” 

“Why did Hylia decide to send rain?” Legend griped. “We don’t need rain today!”

“Well, it was looking rather dry outside.” Sky said. “I’m sure Hylia isn’t purposefully hurting us.” He shrugged, then immediately winced. 

“And besides, if Wild can tough this out then we can too.” Wind said. Wild glanced at him. “I mean, he’s got more scars than any of us.”   
“I’d like to think I’m a close second.” Warriors said, leaning back against the cave wall. 

“Ha! You? I’ve done five adventures, pretty boy.” Legend said. Warriors glared at him. 

“I’ve done three!” Wind volunteered. “I’m close!” 

“I’ve only done one.” Twilight said, surprised. 

“Me too.” Sky said. The two boys looked at each other, and they looked like they were going to high-five until Twilight raised his hand and had to bite his lip in order not to groan. In spite of himself, Time was smiling at the heroes’ antics. Trapped in a cave and arguing over who did the most stuff in their travels.

Besides, he had them all beat. He’d technically done his two adventures for more years than it had seemed, on account of his rather complicated time travel. 


	30. Linktober—Watched

Cia, grinning to herself as she stared into her crystal globe, knew what she was doing would probably end poorly. Lana had told her, time and time again, that she had to stop using the globe to spy on the Heroes of Courage. But she just couldn’t help it! The globe went through time and space, and she could see  _ all _ the heroes. Albeit, none of them were quite as appealing as her Link was, certainly not the youngest one or the shortest one, but she was sure they would all make sufficient prizes nonetheless. 

The one with the fluffy hair, while not being particularly strong or muscular like her Link, had an admittedly cute nose. And, with his tendency to blush, would be an interesting prize to get her hands on. 

The oldest one was already married, unfortunately. He was handsome, with sharp features and golden hair. And, judging by the armor he wore, he was an adept fighter: a perk, should she ever be attacked. 

The one from the skies was… complicated. He was very sweet, and relatively pretty, but his heart already belonged to a girl, which meant he would be significantly more difficult to woo, especially since he was younger, and probably tougher than the oldest hero. 

The one with the pink in his hair would be a challenge, but Cia had always liked challenges. He seemed against any ideas of romance, oddly enough. Cia was sure she could change that with a little bit of “persuasion”. 

The hero with the scars would probably be more trouble than he was worth. While the scars did give him a sort of rugged handsomeness, they were more of a problem than anything else, at least in Cia’s opinion. 

The scarred hero’s mentor was Cia’s second favorite, right after her Link of course. He was handsome, strong, and he had a very amusing accent that lent to an air of innocence that Cia knew was a front. 

And finally,  _ her  _ Link. The  _ best _ Link. Handsome, with sparkling eyes and shimmering hair, strong, kind, protective, he had everything Cia would want in a potential partner. The only problem was his little friends. 

Despite the disturbed nature of her thoughts, Cia laughed as she thought about her next move. Link might think she was dead, but he would find out how wrong he was rather quickly. 


	31. Linktober—Vast

In the massive, sapphire expanse of the Great Sea, Windfall Island seemed terribly small—even though it was one of the biggest islands in the Sea itself. The Sea stretched in every direction, and there were only a few islands visible on the horizon. It was beautiful, and yet it was terrifyingly huge. 

As the heroes sailed away from Windfall and towards Outset, there were mixed reactions. Wind was extremely excited, as expected. Legend was sulking and trying to push memories out of his head in the crow’s nest. Warriors, though he had originally been looking forward to sailing, was in the process of throwing up in a bucket below deck. Time and Four were below deck as well, Time to help Warriors should the other boy ask, and Four to read and get some peace and quiet. 

Wild was watching with a considerable amount of interest as Tetra explained how the cannons worked on the ship. Hyrule was standing behind him, paying attention more so to the seagulls circling over the boat than the weaponry. Twilight, occasionally casting exasperated looks at Wild, was hanging off the netting near one of the sails, letting the wind blow through his hair and pelt. Sky was doing the same thing, at the front of the boat. He’d mentioned that sailing felt similar to flying. 

“This is wonderful, Wind,” Hyrule began to say to the young hero, who was chatting amiably with one of the crewmates, “but are you sure it’s safe?”

“Completely!” Wind said with a grin. “I’ve almost never gotten shipwrecked, and certainly never on Tetra’s big ship! Everything’s fine.” 

“Alright. It all just seems so… empty. Vast.”   
“Well, the Great Sea got its name for a reason, and it certainly wasn’t how fun the monsters are.” Wind said. He shivered. “I promise, nothing bad is going to happen. The worst that could happen would be seasickness, and I don’t think you’re going to get seasick.” 

“Yeah, I know.” Hyrule glanced out at the ocean and then down at his feet. “Sorry to bother you.” 

“It’s no problem, ‘Rule. If it’s any consolation, I was intimidated by the ocean at first too.” Wind offered a smile to Hyrule. 

“You were?” Hyrule said, shocked.    
“Yeah! It is empty and vast, I agree with you. But it’s not as scary as it looks. You’ll see what I mean, I hope.” Hyrule nodded, though he looked uncertain.

When the heroes landed on Outset Island, Legend practically sprinted off the boat. Twilight and Sky reluctantly climbed down from their posts, their hair still stuck in an upwards swoosh from the wind. Time was helping Warriors off the boat, and when the Captain touched solid ground he fell to his knees and kissed the sand. 

“Oh thank Hylia, I never want to do that again.” He said between breaths of air. Time smiled ruefully. 

“Sorry War, I didn’t think sailing would be that hard for you.” Wind said, wringing his hands. 

“It’s fine, Sailor.”

“Wind!” Hyrule was running down the plank and onto the beach. “Thanks for talking to me earlier, I actually enjoyed the sailing!” Wind’s smile made Hyrule want to smile, too. 


	32. Linktober—Destruction

The group of heroes found themselves on the Great Plateau of Wild’s Hyrule, standing just outside the entrance to the Temple of Time. 

“Are we safe enough here to make camp?” Four said. He was on Twilight’s back, on account of him breaking his foot and the group not having enough Red Potions to heal it (and Legend’s insistence that Hyrule not use his magic). They had been in Twilight’s Hyrule, in the process of going to a shop to buy Red Potions, when the portal had transported them to Wild’s Hyrule. 

“I think so.” Time looked around at the temple, which was free of monsters. “And it is getting a bit late. Twilight, you may not take any watches today. Go to sleep.” 

“I’m fine, I can take watch again.” Twilight said. He was lying; he had taken every watch the past two days, and carrying around Four had been draining his strength. The only reason he’d even gotten away with taking watch was due to Four’s injury and the fact that he knew his Hyrule the best. Even so, the dark circles under his eyes were a testament to how absolutely exhausted he was. 

“Twi.” Wild’s expression rivaled Time’s in intensity. “You are  _ not _ taking watch again.”

“I don’t need to sleep! I don’t!” Twilight protested. 

“Twilight. So help me, if you don’t go to bed I will make you.” Legend said. 

“You don’t have an item that can do that.” 

“How do you know?” Legend said. Twilight rolled his eyes, but he did sit down. “Yeah, that’s what I thought. Wars and I can take the watch.” Time nodded his thanks to the Veteran and Captain. 

“Do you have an item like that?” Warriors whispered. 

“No. But Twi doesn’t know that, and he does need to sleep.” Legend admitted. The two of them glanced back to Twilight, who was already half-asleep, and he wasn’t even laying down. 

“I agree.”

In the middle of the night, Wild woke up and grabbed his quiver of Fire Arrows. The Great Plateau still had a considerable amount of monsters in it, and he had considerable experience with pyrotechnics (considering a very flammable stick had been one of his first weapons when he’d woken up in the Shrine of Resurrection). 

He climbed up the ladder on the side of the Temple and stood in the spire, where the Old Man had revealed himself as the previous king of Hyrule. He remembered jumping from that spire, still in those too-small pants and that scratchy shirt, and unfurling his Paraglider to escape the Plateau. But, he didn’t have time to reminisce at the moment. He had to ensure that no monsters could sneak up on them, even with Legend or Warriors on watch. Besides, he’d been itching to see how big of a campfire he could make. 

Though there was, of course the issue of accidentally killing his friends in a forest fire. 

The next morning, the heroes (save for Twilight, who was still sound asleep) awoke to see that the grass outside of the Temple of Time was scorched down to almost nonexistence. Wild was standing with a Fire Arrow nocked to his bow and shooting at trees in the distance. 

“Do I even want to know why you’re doing this?” Time said, rubbing his eye. Wild turned around, face turning bright red. 

“No, you probably don’t.” He said honestly. 

“No one wake up Twi.” Warriors said. “Wild, get your Slate so we can take a photo of his face when he does wake up, though.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> a r s o n


	33. Linktober—Costumes

“Legend!” Warriors said in a teasing voice. “What is this?” He held up a pink and white uniform, a pink bow, and a set of pink pom poms. “Who’s is it?”   
“Don’t touch my stuff!” Legend yelped, running forward and grabbing the clothing from Warriors’ hand. “Ever!”   
“Warriors, I thought you knew better than that.” Time said, casting Warriors a very effective disappointed look. Warriors sulked and tossed the costume back to Legend. 

“You have costumes too?” Wild said, face curious. “I thought I was the only one, especially including costumes that aren’t made for guys.” 

“Well, I had an adventure of sorts in a land that had a lot of fashion. Some of the costumes I took back with me, just because they had abilities that might be helpful.”

“Oh.” Wild said. “What does this one do?”   
“It, uh, it gives the people I’m fighting with more energy. You know, so they can do more.”   
“That sounds very helpful.” Time said, and he wasn’t teasing in any way. “Would you consider wearing it sometime? If we find ourselves in a battle it might be the difference between winning and losing.” Legend blushed and glared at Time, though he didn’t immediately veto the idea. 

“I guess I’ll consider it. But you are not allowed to make fun of me.  _ At all _ .” He turned, arms crossed, and refused to say any more. 

“What happened to Legend?” Wind whispered to Four. “He’s acting nice.”   
“I guess we should just appreciate it before he comes to his senses.” Four replied. Legend flipped him an obscene gesture over one shoulder. “Too late.”

A few days later, the heroes awoke to Legend sounding the alarm, at some absurd hour in the night. Warriors was awake first, and he dissolved into barely contained laughter at Legend’s outfit. He was actually wearing the cheerleader’s outfit.

“You said you wouldn’t make fun of me.” Legend said harshly. “And there’s monsters coming.” This snapped Warriors into a battle state of mind quickly, as the other heroes woke up and grabbed their weapons. None of them spared more than a second glance at Legend’s outfit, though it was clear they wanted to say something about it. Bokoblins, each armed with the crude wooden clubs they so often used, crashed through the trees. The heroes immediately began engaging in combat with the beasts, using either swords or magic. Legend had his sword, though the monsters were mostly ignoring him for the time being. Instead, he was shouting encouragement to the others in true Legend fashion (“a slug could hit faster than you, Warriors!” or “Four, get your act together and stab them! Stop with the swinging around!”). And it was actually working: the Links attacked with a vigor not usually seen from them, and the battle was over with no injuries (save for Legend’s sore voice). 

“I cannot believe that worked.” Sky said, sheathing the Master Sword. “Nice job, Legend.”   
“Thank you. Now turn around, I am changing back into my tunic before any of you have time to stop me.”


	34. Linktober—Candies

“I still can’t believe you guys had never had marshmallows before.” Warriors said. He tossed a marshmallow to each of the heroes. Eating the sugary snacks had become a routine when they camped. 

“Neither can I.” Wild stuck his marshmallow into the flames, igniting it in a matter of moments. He almost forgot to extinguish it before putting it in his mouth. “I guess we have you to thank for them, though.”

“That you do.” Warriors smirked. “Do any of you have sweet treats that you like?”   
“Gummy worms!” Hyrule immediately volunteered. 

“Worms?” Wind said, concerned. “Why would you eat worms?” 

“No,  _ gummy  _ worms. It’s like a worm-shaped little squishy treat. It’s super good.” Hyrule attempted to explain, though the heroes still seemed skeptical. 

“I know we had cheesecake a lot in Ordon.” Twilight said. “Because of all the goat’s milk, we had a lot of cheese and dairy products to work with.”

“Cheesecake is good.” Time agreed. 

“Peppermint was always a favorite of mine.” Wind said. “I realize I have no idea where we even got peppermint, but it’s delicious.”   
“Next time we switch Hyrules, we have got to try some of these candies.” Sky said. “They all sound  _ delicious _ .”

“Oh trust me, they are.” Warriors said. “I’ve had most of what they’re talking about, and I can confirm that they are all delicious.” 

“What about chocolate?” Four said. “I assume you all have.”   
“Yup.” Twilight said. “Dark chocolate is the best.”

“Dark chocolate?” Legend was shocked. “What about white chocolate? That’s always been my favorite.”

“It’s not even real chocolate!”

“Then why does it have chocolate in the name!”

“Because it’s lying!” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, this one wasn’t very good


	35. Linktober—Monsters

The heroes were walking through a particularly thickly-forested area of Legend’s Hyrule, with Twilight going ahead of them as a scout, when the Ordonian came crashing through the trees with an arrow in his forearm. 

“Lynel.” He said, wincing. The arrow in his arm had a yellowish tinge to it, as if it was electrically charged. The way Twilight’s fingers were twitching further alluded to said fact. 

“Crap.” Wind cursed under his breath. Wild, on the other hand, gave Twilight a Red Potion and then pulled the arrow out of his forearm. To his credit, Twilight didn’t shout or scream, but he did bite down hard on his lip. The Red Potion quickly fixed the arrow wound and his split lip. 

“Alright, everyone get ready.” Time said, the Biggoron Sword in his hand. 

“Way ahead of you, Old Man.” Legend sideyed the oldest hero as he drew his sword and his Fire Rod. A deafening roar sounded through the forest, and then the Lynel was on top of them. 

Wild reacted immediately, flipping out of the way and shooting an arrow into its face to stun it, which gave Warriors and Sky opportunities to put their quick sword-swinging to use. Both heroes dodged and ran once the Lynel appeared to come back to its senses. Wild kept his bow handy, but refrained from shooting on account of him not wanting to run out of arrows. Twilight and Time were slashing at the Lynel’s back legs and trying not to get kicked in the face. Hyrule was at the back, just behind Four, with his hands glowing pink in case anyone needed healing. 

Wind was suspiciously nowhere to be seen, but the youngest hero was more than capable of handling himself. 

Another arrow found itself buried in the Lynel’s face, this time in its eye. The Lynel dropped on its knees as Sky raised the Master Sword up, preparing a beam of light to end the monster’s existence. 

He didn’t get a chance to, as the Lynel whipped out a bow of its own and shot Sky in the leg at point-blank range. Sky crumpled like a doll, the Master Sword slipping out of his grasp. Hyrule shrieked as he ran over to the fallen hero and started healing, but now he was in the way of the Lynel’s rage. 

“Back off,  _ punk _ !” Wind’s voice shouted from the treetops. The boy fell onto the Lynel’s back, and he stabbed his sword through its head more than enough times to kill it. 

“Nice one, Wind.” Sky was already half-conscious. “You really showed that Lynel who was boss.”   
“Next time one of those fights us, we break its bow.” Legend said darkly. “Deal?”

“Deal.” Twilight and Sky said at the same time. 


	36. Linktober—Triforce

Warriors ducked under a falling tree, cursing everything holy for making this forest catch on fire while they were inside of it. The other heroes had gotten out, at least to Warriors’ knowledge. He had shamefully run without looking back once the fire had gotten this bad. Wind was on Time’s back, last he’d seen, so the youngest and oldest heroes were probably okay. Wild probably had fireproof elixirs. Legend probably had a fireproof item of some sort, and Warriors knew Sky did too. That left Twilight, Four, and Hyrule in danger, but they were all very fast. And Hyrule had a spell that let him jump a ridiculous height, so he was almost definitely safe. Four was nimble and his size meant he was less likely to get hit by debris, and Twilight had the endurance of an animal. 

So, Warriors was more concerned for himself at the present moment. 

He tripped, face slamming into the soil. He was pretty sure he chipped a tooth, but that wasn’t his present concern. 

There was a flaming branch falling down towards him, and all of a sudden Warriors was back in the war, watching as Volga sent a burst of fire his way. The power of the Triforce had saved him then, revived his almost dead body with its golden light, but the Triforce’s power hadn’t helped him since Cia had stolen it, even after he’d gotten it back. 

He knew with absolute certainty that the Triforce wouldn’t help him, and that he couldn’t dodge the tree. 

Maybe Hylia finally had forsaken him. 


	37. Linktober—Treasures

The cave that the Heroes of Courage had found themselves in was rather cramped. Granted, it wasn’t meant to fit nine people, it was more like an accidental chamber. 

“We need to get out of here.” Sky said almost immediately. He glanced up at the hard stone ceiling and shuddered. “Does anyone know where we are?” 

“No idea.” That was Legend, lighting his Lantern. 

“Wait, guys.” Wind said with a beckoning gesture. “Come over here.” What Wind had noticed was a fissure that went through the floor of the cave, on one side. “Do you think we can blow this up?”

“Probably.” Wild already had a bomb, courtesy of his Sheikah Slate, held under his arm. He placed the bomb over the fissure. “Everyone stand back.” 

“It’s not like we want to get blown up.” Legend pointed out. Wild poked him in the ribs, eliciting a protest. “Hey, watch it!” Wild ignored him and pressed the button on the Sheikah Slate to detonate the bomb. With a crumbling of stone, a passageway was revealed in the floor of the cave.

“Cool!” Hyrule said, eyes shining. Wild had a similar expression on his face, and Twilight was already beginning to look nervous about what the two boys would do. “We have to go down there!”   
“I don’t know, what if we get stuck?” Sky wrung his hands together. 

“We won’t.” Wild assured him. He was already walking into the passageway. “Come on!” 

“If it looks like anything is going to happen, I’ll make sure we all get out.” Time said, placing his hand on Sky’s shoulder. Sky nodded, even though he was still concerned. 

“Alright.” He stood in the back of the group as they descended into the passageway. 

The passage eventually led them to a pair of wooden doors, the wood shockingly not rotted away. 

“I don’t like this.” Four said, and Sky agreed with him. “It feels like a trap.” 

“Then grab your sword!” Wild said. He was holding a rusty blade in one hand and used the other to push on the doors. “Oh, these are heavy. Twilight, you think you could push them open?”

“I can certainly try, Cub.” Twilight squared his shoulders and pushed all of his weight against the doors, which were surprisingly heavy—as Wild had said they were. Even so, it only took a minute or so for Twilight to open them and expose a chamber with carved stone covering every exposed inch. 

“Woah…” Wind breathed. The chamber was truly stunning, even when you ignored the intricate carvings. There were gilded wooden chests along the walls, and painted jars, and even a few perfectly sharpened swords. 

“Look at all the stuff in these!” Wild exclaimed, opening one of the chests and holding up handfuls of treasure, mostly in the form of sparkling rings. Legend wandered over with an interested look on his face. 

“What do you think this does?” Hyrule said. He was holding a wooden stick with a golden gem on the end of it. He pointed the gem at one end of the chamber and shook his arm, and a bolt of lightning came out of the gem. “A lighting rod? Sweet!” 

“There is so much  _ stuff  _ in here.” Sky looked around in shock. A wooden carving caught his attention: a bird with a long, pointed beak. The bird’s body was rounded and slender, and the carving as a whole was only about the size of his fist. “A hummingbird?” He examined the carving further. “Wow.”

“I will admit, this is pretty cool.” Twilight said with a crooked grin. He was holding a pendant with a silver wolf’s face on it. The wolf’s eyes were made from blue gemstones. 

“Do you think we’re allowed to take any of it?” Four asked. 

“I would assume so.” Warriors said, already testing out one of the swords. 

“It would be a shame to let all this treasure go to waste.” Time conceded, a hand on his chin. There was a wooden mask with carved flowers branching off it that was the center of his attention. Wild pumped his fist, depositing some of the rings into his Sheikah Slate. Twilight put the silver wolf-head on the same string as his Shadow Crystal with a satisfied look on his face. 

“What a find.” Hyrule said to Wild. Both boys were grinning widely. 

“I agree.” 


	38. Linktober—Traditions

As the portal closed behind them, the heroes looked around and tried to recognize where they were. 

“My Hyrule.” Twilight said with a grin. “My house is just through here, actually.” He led them to a tree with a house nestled in its branches. A ladder went up into the house. “I just gotta grab something, and then we can see the village!” He told them before climbing the ladder. Moments later, he came outside with a small charm held in one hand. 

“What’s that?” Wild asked, cocking his head. 

“It’s an image of an Ordon goat.” Twilight admitted, as if he was embarrassed. “I’ve been meaning to take it with me for a while.”

“It’s very well made.” Sky said appreciatively. “Rugged without being messy.” 

“It… kept me occupied during my adventure, when I wasn’t fighting.” Twilight shoved the charm into his pocket. “Come on, Ordon is right down this way.” 

The village, when they arrived, looked like it was having a festival of some sort. There were pumpkin lanterns hung on the houses, children had paints decorating their faces, and there was what looked like a wrestling ring in the center of the village. 

“It’s a Harvest Celebration!” Twilight said, looking more excited than he had any time during their adventure. 

“Is it pumpkin season, then?” Time said. 

“Pumpkin season is year round, in Ordon at least.” Twilight explained. “But we have a festival twice a year, to celebrate a particularly good harvest.”   
“So…you don’t know when they’re going to be?” Legend sounded skeptical. 

“No, it’s random based on the harvests.” Twilight said. “And it seems like one is today!”

“Link!” A blonde boy came streaking towards the heroes, jumping at Twilight, who caught him with a delighted laugh. “You’re here! Talo said you wouldn’t show up, but I knew you would!”   
“Good to see you, Colin.” Twilight said. “Where’s Ilia? Or Fado?” Colin nodded enthusiastically. 

“They’re at the ranch!”

“Great.” Twilight said. He waved a hand over his shoulder to indicate that he wanted the other Links to follow him through the village and towards Ordon Ranch. 

“Ilia!” Twilight called as they approached. A girl with blonde hair that curled around her neck spun, her face breaking into a smile as she saw Twilight. 

“Link!” At this, the man who had been talking to her turned around too, and while his smile was not as large, it was just as joyful. Ilia hugged Twilight as tight as she could, and he returned the embrace (though not as hard). 

“Hey, Link. Glad to see you again.” Fado said with a wave. 

“Hello Fado. Do you need any help herdin’ goats today?” Twilight said, his accent seeping more strongly into his words than it normally did. “Me and my friends would be happy to help.”

“Well, I’m never one to turn down assistance, and any friend of Link’s is a friend of mine.” Fado looked at the heroes. “Nice to meet y’all.” Time nodded his greeting. 

“Oh, Link!” Ilia snapped her fingers as she remembered something. “Are you going to participate in the wrestling tournament this year? Everyone was hoping you would, since you’re so strong now.” Shockingly, Twilight blushed, and Warriors’ eyebrows raised teasingly. 

“I was plannin’ on it, yeah.” He said. Ilia clapped her hands together. 

“Great! You have to come back to the village! Rusl and Uli have been waitin’ for you since you left.” Twilight nodded. 

“So, the village?” Legend said. 

“It would seem so.” Time answered. 

The villagers were gathering around the wrestling ring by the time they got back to it; evidently Twilight’s return had set them into a frenzy to get things finished. 

“Link, my boy.” An older man with a slight limp came from the crowd, and Twilight rushed to meet him in a hug. “It is so good to see you again. Uli and I were missin’ you.” As if her name had summoned her, a blonde woman hugged Twilight with one arm. Her other arm was busy holding a toddler—a little girl of maybe two years old, with Rusl’s brown hair.

“You had your baby?” Twilight said, voice soft. 

“We named her Maia.” Uli told him. “It means warrior. We hoped she would learn some of your and Colin’s bravery.” 

“She’s beautiful.”   
“Do you want to hold her?” Twilight nodded, and he was  _ trembling _ as Uli handed the little girl to him. She smiled at him and poked a finger at the mark on his forehead. 

“I’m sure you’ll make a great older brother.” Rusl patted Twilight on the back. “You and Colin.”

“B-Brother? But I’m not related to her—”   
“Link, you’re part of our family. Blood doesn’t change that.” 

“T-Thank you.” As Twilight cooed at Maia, smiling, the Links glanced at each other. Twilight was never this at ease, considering he was Wild’s self-appointed protector. It was a good change of routine to be safe enough that Twilight let down his guard.

“So, ma’am,” Warriors said, “I heard something about a wrestling tournament?”   
“Yes! We have one every Harvest Festival. Link’s only done one, when he was about twelve. You should’ve seen how determined he was, with—”

“It’s a shame I didn’t win, then.” Twilight interrupted. Maia made a questioning noise, and Twilight returned his attention to her. 

“You should do the tournament again.” Rusl encouraged. “You might win this time.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t be so sure.” Warriors said. He had the competitive glint in his eye that he only got when he made bets with Legend. Twilight handed Maia back to Uli and greeted the rest of the villagers, before a stout woman with her face in a permanent frown stood in the middle of the ring and started shouting. 

“The competition starts now! Whoever wants to compete, stand in the ring! You’ll all get your turn, so no pushing!” A short and stocky man stepped up, followed by a boy of maybe thirteen. 

“Talo?” Twilight muttered. “When did he get so tall?” The match ended quickly, with neither opponent even taking their shirt off before the match. Talo almost won, to Twilight’s surprise. Then again, Jaggle (the other competitor and Talo’s father) had never been one for strenuous work. Even so, Talo did not have enough muscle to overpower a fully grown man. 

“Who’s next to face Jaggle?” Sera called. Twilight took a deep breath and stepped into the ring. The match began with Jaggle making a good hard shove and knocking Twilight back a few paces, but the older man was not quite as nimble as Twilight was, and he wasn’t as fit. Twilight ducked under another shove and retaliated, getting in a good combo of shoves and grabs until Jaggle fell off the platform. More men and boys challenged Twilight—Hanch, who was much too scrawny to win; Colin, who Twilight let get in a few good blows before winning (gently, of course); Fado, who put up a very good fight until Twilight realized that Fado only tried to shove, he never blocked. Rusl normally would have wrestled, and he probably would’ve won, but his limp meant he was risking hurting himself. He remained on the sidelines, to his chagrin. Mayor Bo chose to sit back this year, due to Ilia’s begging. 

By now, Twilight was panting. He wasn’t too exhausted to keep going, which was good for him because he still had one opponent left. 

Warriors, grinning confidently, stepped up onto the platform. He took off his scarf and tunic, which made Beth (who had been watching Twilight rather closely) turn the color of an apple. Twilight rolled his eyes, but he took off his tunic and layers of chainmail as well. He couldn’t afford to let the clothing hold him back during the battle. Even his wolf pelt ended up in a pile of clothes. 

The removal of their tunics exposed a myriad of scars on both boys: Warriors’ chest was full of scratches, some deeper and more concerning than others, all made from swords. Twilight had a scar on his shoulder, one that was bright white and stood out sharply against his skin, and he had a curved scar on his stomach from a goat hoof. That scar had almost killed him. 

“Come on, Link!” Ilia shouted, cupping her hands around her mouth. “You can beat him!” Twilight smiled to himself, rolling his shoulders. Warriors raised an eyebrow. 

“What? I’m stretchin’.” Twilight said. 

“You seem a little sore there, Farm Boy.” Warriors taunted. “Sure you can win this?”   
“Well, I’m tryin’ to!” 

“Stop with the bantering, just get onto the wrestling already!” Legend said. 

“Fine, fine.” Warriors made the first move, coming at Twilight with his arms outstretched. Twilight mimicked the move, and the two boys were soon locked in a tight grip as one tried to gain the upper hand on the other. Twilight eventually gained it, by quickly moving his hand up Warriors’ arm and using the momentum to swing himself around, shoving Warriors towards the edge. Warriors grit his teeth, swinging his arms and trying to grab Twilight. Twilight ducked under it, starting to sweat. It was a miracle that he hadn’t been sweating before now. The dance of Warriors attempting to grab and Twilight ducking went on for another minute, before Warriors changed tactics and grabbed lower, catching Twilight’s arms. He shoved, hard, and Twilight came dangerously close to falling out of the ring. Warriors rushed forwards while Twilight was unsteady, intending to push him and win, but Twilight was ready for him. He grabbed Warriors’ wrist and spun, once again flipping their positions around. With one well-placed shove, Warriors fell and Twilight won. 

“Yes!” Twilight threw his head back and laughed. 

“I almost got you.” Warriors shook a finger at him. 

“That you did. I honestly don’t know how I pulled that off.”   
“You should teach me sometime.”

“I’m plannin’ to, at this point.” 

“You did it! You won!” Ilia exclaimed, running forward and lacing her arms around Twilight’s neck, completely ignoring the fact that he was drenched in sweat. “Come on, that means you get to have the first slice of pumpkin pie!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m super proud of this one :D


	39. Linktober—Lost

The Lost Woods were named what they were for a very good reason. The gnarled trees all looked the same, the fog made it hard to see, and there were absolutely no signs or hints of where to go. 

“Wild, these are your woods, right?” Sky asked, the mist distorting his voice and making it sound as if he was miles away. 

“Yeah.” Wild sounded normal. “Legend, light your lantern.” 

“I’ve been trying to.” Legend said, frustrated. “It’s not igniting for some reason.” 

“Crud.” Wind kicked at a tree root with his foot. “What do we do now?”   
“I think I know where we are.” Wild said. “Just stay right next to me.  _ I mean it _ .”

“Good job, Wild.” Twilight said as they emerged from the Lost Woods. He rubbed at his temples, as did a few of the other heroes: the mist had been making it hard to think. 

“Yeah. I was beginning to think we’d never make it out of there.” Warriors agreed. “I’m so glad I never had to travel through a forest like that.”

“I’ve had to travel through more than enough of them.” Legend muttered. 

“Um, where’s Hyrule?” 

“Crap.”   
“Legend! Legend, you won’t believe what I found!” As if hearing his name had summoned him, Hyrule stumbled out of the Lost Woods, triumphantly clutching a mushroom above his head. 

“Hyrule, where were you?” Legend demanded. “Wild said stay together!” 

“I know,” Hyrule flushed, “but I saw something sparkly!” 

“You can’t get distracted like that, you could’ve been hurt!” 

“You sound concerned.” Warriors said.

“I am! He could’ve died!”

“So what you’re proving is that you’re a big softie.” 

“N-No!”

“You’re stuttering.”

“No, I’m not!” Legend was to the point where he looked ready to slap Warriors very hard, and Warriors did not seem like he was going to stop teasing. 

“Look, Legend has every right to be concerned. Hyrule could’ve been seriously injured.” Time said, glaring at Warriors. Even with only one eye, the expression was quite effective in quelling the argument. 

“How did you avoid getting lost?” Wild asked. 

“I dunno, I guess I just went wherever?”   
“Then you got ridiculously lucky.” Wild said, eyes wide. “Even I get lost sometimes.”   
“To think, that  _ Traveler _ wouldn’t get lost in the Lost Woods, of all places.” Legend commented, and Hyrule’s face went red. 


	40. Linktober—Stalfos

_ “A sword wields no strength unless the hand that holds it has courage…”  _

The Stalfos, its single red eye glowing through its rusted helmet, grimaced at Twilight. It was disappointed in him, though he couldn’t pinpoint why. He  _ could _ pinpoint, however, how ashamed he was. 

_ “You have no courage, failure.”  _ The Stalfos (or the Hero’s Shade, as Twilight had come to know it by) pointed its sword at him. The sword resembled Time’s Biggoron Sword, though considerably more damaged and chipped.  _ “You do not deserve that blade.” _ The Hero’s Shade drove his sword right into Twilight’s chest. 

Twilight awoke with a start, looking around wildly and clutching a hand to his chest. There was no blood, and no gaping hole in the middle of his ribs. He sighed and rubbed at his forehead, trying to force the image of the Hero’s Shade from his mind. It was not something that he liked to dwell on. 

“Twilight?” Twilight jumped, spinning and seeing Time’s concerned face looking at him. “Do you want to talk about it?” 

“I…” Twilight bit down hard on his lip, and he tasted blood in his mouth. “You were disappointed in me.”

“I could never feel that way about you.”   
“No, you had every right to be.” Now that he’d started talking, the words just kept coming. “You were d-dead. And it was my fault. You should’ve hated me, I guess it’s a mercy you were only disappointed.” 

“ _ Twilight _ .” Time made his voice firm, but not angry. More like a concerned parent, which was quite fitting. “I will  _ never _ be disappointed in you. I promise.” 

“But—”

“But nothing.” Time pulled Twilight into a hug. No matter the circumstances, I can’t be anything but proud of you.” 

“What about that time I punched a Lizalfos and broke my hand?”

“Well, maybe I was a little exasperated, but still proud.” 


	41. Linktober—Weapon

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1\. Shoutout to my sister for giving me ideas  
> 2\. The return of Twilight beating enemies with his hands ;D

Seeing Ravio’s hut rising at the skyline was a welcome sight to the nine weary and battle-beaten heroes. The Bokoblins that had jumped them in the middle of the night had been a very nasty surprise, especially considering they’d shot Wild (who had been on watch) with some sort of poisoned arrow that had knocked him out in a matter of moments. Besides feeling incredibly guilty, Wild was rather lightheaded. Twilight had destroyed his hands when he’d panicked and decided that tackling a Bokoblin while half-asleep would be the best course of action. Hyrule had a twisted ankle, Four had a nasty bruise on his arm, and Warrior’s nose was broken. Legend had teased him about this, saying it would make him less handsome (and how much of a tragedy that would be), but Warriors had brushed him off with the retort that he would look ruggedly dashing. 

Regardless of Warriors’ handsomeness or lack thereof, they were all happy to see Ravio’s house (or shop, depending on perspective). It meant safety and Potions, even if they had to pay for the Potions. 

“Ravio!” Legend shouted as he entered. “We need Potions!” Ravio’s head popped up from behind a shelf, and his emerald eyes went wide when he saw the plight of the nine heroes that had just stumbled into his home. 

“Mr.Hero! Hang on, I’ll be right there!” He dashed up the stairs, coming back down with a box that jingled as he walked, alluding to its contents: Potions, mostly red, though there were a few green ones as well. “Please, take what you need!” 

“Thank you.” Legend handed a Potion to Hyrule, who had been leaning on his shoulder for support as they’d traveled. Twilight hung back, looking uncertain. 

“Twi?” Sky looked sideways at him. 

“I don’t think I can grab a Potion.” He admitted. “My fingers are  _ not  _ in working condition.” 

“Oh, I got it.” Sky grabbed a Potion and held it to Twilight’s mouth. Twilight drank it, though he was blushing furiously as he did so. 

“I’m glad to see you again!” Ravio said sincerely. “I was beginning to worry.”   
“How did you come by all this stuff?” Wild asked, looking around. 

“Mr.Hero got most of it, I just do the selling.” Ravio explained. “Monster weapons are durable enough for most travelers, at least.”

“Would you mind if we stayed the night?” Time said. “I would rather avoid another night in the cold, if I can help it.” 

“Of course, of course!” Ravio said, nodding. “There should be some beds upstairs, though you might have to look around the boxes. I’m afraid I am not very organized.”

“We’ll manage.” Time assured him, beckoning the other heroes upstairs. Wild stayed downstairs, examining a rack of swords on one wall. 

“Anything that interests you?” Ravio prodded, slipping into his “merchant voice”. 

“Maybe.” Wild continued to look over one of the swords: this particular blade had a blue gem in the hilt and a small curling design along the blade itself. “How durable is this?”

“One of my more durable weapons, for sure. I do not deal in incompetent materials, mind you.” 

“No, of course not. I was just wondering. I could use a new weapon, especially one I could swing as fast as this.”   
“If you want it, it’s 200 Rupees.”

“200?” Wild turned, shock on his face. 

“It’s normally 350.” Ravio said defensively. “I’m giving you a discount because you’re friends with Mr.Hero.” 

“Alright, fine.” Wild handed over two Silver Rupees, and Ravio took the gems reverently as he placed them in his considerably large pockets. Wild took the sword off the rack. “Thank you, Ravio.”

“Certainly. I’m always happy to do business.” 


	42. Linktober—Web

The instant the Links were teleported into an unexplored tunnel in the middle of Twilight’s Hyrule, at dusk, Legend thought it was a miracle nothing had killed them yet. They’d had bad luck with the portals, but this really took the cake.

And, to add insult to injury, there were spiderwebs on the walls, coating it like lace. Except lace was much more pleasing to look at than spiderwebs. 

“We really should just turn around.” Legend said, voice echoing. 

“I’ve been in here before.” Twilight insisted. “It’s a short cut.”   
“Who cares? We’re going to get murdered by something in here.” 

“No, we’re not.” Warriors answered for Twilight. “Lighten up, Legend. I trust Twilight’s judgement, even if these spiderwebs are extremely creepy.”   
“Did anyone else have to fight spiders in their adventure?” Sky asked, and he had the Master Sword in his hand. Twilight and Time nodded. “Twilight, you really don’t think there are Skulltulas in here?” Twilight paused, scuffing his feet. 

“You know what, let’s just get out of here. My Hyrule Field is a pain at night, but I’ll take Stalhounds over Skulltulas.” Twilight turned, his Lantern clinking as they walked from the spiderwebby tunnel. 

Or at least, tried to. There were spiderwebs, fresh ones that had not been there originally, blocking the path. 

“Hang on, I got it.” Legend pulled out his Fire Rod and burned a path through the webs. As he stepped through, he caught a glimpse of something reflective on the ceiling of the cave, and shot another blast of fire to see. 

There were four Skulltulas hanging upside down, and they hissed as the fire whizzed past them before descending and baring fangs as long as Legend’s forearm. 

“Crap!” Warriors exclaimed, drawing his sword as fast as he could with a  _ shing _ of metal. He batted away a Skulltula leg. “Should we run?”   
“They’re faster than us!” Sky swung at a Skulltula. “We have to kill them!” He thrust the Master Sword up, flipping the Skulltula onto his back before jumping and stabbing it’s abdomen. Twilight did a similar motion to the second one, and Legend and Warriors copied him for the last two. 

“We’re getting out of here,  _ now _ .”   
“Agreed.” 


	43. Taking Requests! (Not a Chapter)

As the chapter name may imply, I am deciding to take requests for prompts/oneshots :D

You can have as many requests as you want, and I’ll write just about anything (though romance is not my forte) so please, if you have a request:

comment them on this chapter. It’ll make it easier for me to keep them organized.

I won’t reply to comments unless I actually write a chapter based off of the prompt, and I reserve the right to decline prompts that might be a bit too challenging for me, but chances are I won’t decline anyone’s.

That’s all for now, feel free to start commenting requests as soon as you get ideas! 


	44. Linktober—Halloween

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay I’m not sure what happened but I must’ve forgotten to post this; it was a draft instead of a chapter so that’s my bad 😬

On the night of Halloween, Hyrule Castle Town was swarming with people, some in costumes and some not, all of them smiling and laughing. The heroes were dressed up too, though they were not going to collect candy (considering most of them were too old to be considered children). 

Four had dyed his hair purple and was wearing a black version of the classic hero’s tunic. He had said it was to remember someone he’d lost, which the other heroes could all respect and relate to. 

Wind was dressed up as his Hyrule’s rendition of a Rito: beak over his nose and mouth, long robe, and Wild had helped him make wings to go on his arms. He even had a bucket that he claimed was for “trinkets and treats” styled in the shape of Din’s Pearl. 

Wild, after a lot of debating, had decided on being a Sheikah, since he already had the clothing. He’d painted a Sheikah eye design around his left eye and had taken advantage of his extensive weapons arsenal to find some Sheikah-looking weapons. 

Hyrule was wearing large pink wings, courtesy of a combined effort from Legend and Wild. A pair of pink antennae attached to a headband were nestled in his brown hair, and Legend had put golden glitter across the bridge of his nose. 

Legend had dressed up as Warriors, complete with the Captain’s scarf flung around his neck. He kept complaining about wearing armor, even though it really wasn’t that bad of a fit for him. The tunic he was wearing was not Warriors’, simply because it was a poor fit: it was Hyrule’s. 

To complete the set, Warriors was wearing a rendition of Legend’s outfit. He had an excessive amount of bracelets, boots with little wings on them, a blue hat, and of course, a red tunic and no pants. He was having way too much fun pretending to be Legend: yelling at people, acting grumpy, sulking. 

Twilight had found a black tunic to wear, and he was still wearing his wolf pelt (of course) on his shoulders. He had bright teal designs on his arms, neck, and face. He shared Four’s motive of wanting to remember someone he’d lost. 

Time didn’t do much in terms of costumes, besides wearing a giant backpack that he hung most of his relatively harmless masks on. He forced the Links, specifically Wild and Wind, to promise not to touch any of the masks. 

Sky was also wearing wings that Wild had helped make, except his were feathered bird wings with red and yellow and purple and white feathers. And, to complete the Loftwing outfit, he had a bird's beak on his face and tail feathers sewed to the back of his tunic. 

“Link!” A village child ran up to Wild, grinning widely. She had face paint and dog ears, marking her costume. “Here!” She thrust an apple at him, which he took, eyes wide, before running off. Legend grinned. 

“Seems like you’re quite the celebrity.” He teased. Wild blushed fiercely enough that it could be seen above his Sheikah mask. 

“I’m really not.”

“She just gave you an apple.”

“And?”   
“And random people don’t just get apples from children.”   
“Accept it, Wild.” Wind elbowed him. “You’re going to get apples for the rest of your life.” Wild rolled his eyes.

“What kinds of things do you normally do for Halloween here?” Warriors asked, looking around. “I typically told scary stories.”   
“Let’s not do that.” Twilight said immediately. “I don’t need more stories about creepy demons and shadow creatures.”    
“What about… just exploring the village?” Four suggested. “There’s bound to be something fun we can discover.” 

“That’s a good idea!” Sky agreed. “Should we split up?”   
“Sure. We can find good stuff faster that way.” Time said, and despite the fact that he was trying to hide his excitement, he was smiling. The heroes split into groups: Time and Wind, Twilight and Legend, Wild and Warriors, Four, Sky, and Hyrule. They began exploring the village, hoping to find any number of surprises. 

Two hours later, when the moon was almost in the middle of the sky and all of the children had gone inside, the heroes met back up in the center of the village. 

“Did anyone find anything?” Four said. “I didn’t.”   
“I found this cool rock,” Wild held up a gray stone with spiderweb patterns running through it, “but nothing else.”   
“Seems like you just have bad luck.” Time said with a grin. Wind, also grinning, held up his candy bucket that was now full to the brim with candy. 

“What?” Warriors was shocked. “How did you find that?”   
“We trick-or-treated.” Wind said, smirking. “That, and the girl in the Tech Lab has a  _ lot _ of candy.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you guys for sticking with me through this event! Happy Halloween! 🎃 👻


	45. Broken Ankle

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt from lalaland, who requested Wild hurt/comfort! Hope you enjoy :D

Light, streaming through the tree canopy, bounced off of the various heroes’ armor and cast dancing glimmers across the trees. Warriors, as expected, was flaunting his newfound sparkly-ness; he was almost skipping. Time was looking around at the lights in a combination of exasperation and awe—that alone was cause for curiosity, awe was not often an expression Time wore. 

Despite how gorgeous Sky’s Faron Woods were, Wild was a bit busy trying not to stumble and damage his already half-broken ankle. He was still annoyed that he’d hurt himself falling out of a tree, especially after Twilight had warned him not to climb it. 

“Can we visit the Kikwis while we’re here?” Wind asked. He had taken a liking to the timid creatures the last time they’d visited the woods. 

“Sure!” Sky said, eyes shining. He was very excited about the prospect of seeing Sun in the near future: maybe even a few days, if they were fast. Wind smiled and pumped his fist in the air. 

“Wild, do you wanna look for Kikwis with me?” Wind turned and looked at the long-haired hero. Wild gave what he hoped was a believable smile of apology. 

“I’m pretty tired, Wind.” He lied. Wind’s face fell for a moment, but he quickly nodded. 

“Oh. That’s okay!”

“If you’re tired, Cub, we can stop to make camp soon.” Twilight said, gnawing on his lip. He was getting the worried look on his face that he seemed to use every time Wild did anything. 

“No, I don’t want to keep Sky from seeing Sun.” Wild assured him. “I’m fine.” Twilight looked unsure, and Wild had to make extra sure he didn’t limp: his mentor was annoyingly observant, at least when it came to physical injury. 

By the time they reached the Surface Colonies—where some of the Skyloftians were attempting to build a new civilization—Wild felt like passing out. The extra time spent hanging around with the Kikwis had not been kind to his ankle, nor had tripping over a tree root. It was lucky Time had grabbed his arm before he’d smashed his face into the ground. 

“Link!” Sun cried, dashing towards Sky and wrapping her arms around him. Sky blushed, and he blushed even harder when Sun kissed his cheek. “I’m so glad you’re alright, and it looks like your friends are too!” 

“Hello Sun.” Time said respectfully. “It is good to see you in fair health.” Sun rolled her eyes. 

“You don’t need to be so formal with me, you know.” Time was, shockingly, at a loss for words. 

Wild chose that exact moment to collapse. 

A few hours later, Wild blinked his eyes open to the sight of a very worried looking Twilight sitting next to him, with the other heroes scattered throughout the room doing various things (reading letters, playing cards, twiddling their thumbs). 

“Cub!” Twilight exclaimed as he realized Wild was awake. 

“I’m sorry.” Wild got out, feeling a lump already starting to form in his throat. 

“Sorry? For what?”   
“I didn’t tell you I was hurt, I was dumb, I—” Wild cut himself off as he broke down into sobs and tears, hoping against hope that Twilight wouldn’t snap at him. Twilight carefully leaned forward, putting a hand on Wild’s shoulder. When Wild didn’t recoil, Twilight took it as an opportunity to wrap his arms around his apprentice. “I’m so sorry, please don’t be mad at me…”   
“You don’t have to apologize, Cub.” Twilight murmured, running a hand over Wild’s long hair. “I’m not mad at you. If anything, I’m a little worried, but I’m not mad and I’m not disappointed.” 

“Are you sure?”

“Completely sure.” Twilight pulled back a bit, so he could look Wild in the eyes. “All of us have hidden injuries. I think Legend has more than any of us.”

“Hey!”

“Regardless, I am  _ not _ mad. I promise.”   
“Okay.” Wild nodded, even though his brain was still processing Twilight’s words, and glanced down at his hands for a few minutes. “Thank you, Twi.”   
“Of course, Cub.”


	46. Blow to the Head

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Requested by sherlocky!

_ Dumb Bokoblins! _ Blue said, and imagining him shaking his fist was all too easy.  _ What are they even doing here?  _

_ We’ve been running into lots of monsters recently,  _ Green pointed out.  _ It’s really not that unusual. _

__ _ Still, I’d rather not have to fight anything right now! _

__ _ Me too…  _ Red agreed timidly. Four pushed the bickering voices to the back of his head for the time being, focusing on defeating the Bokoblins surrounding him. They were Wild’s variety, which meant two things, one good and one bad. 

Good: they didn’t have piercing weapons, so Four didn’t have to worry about being impaled.

Bad: they were quick, and loud, and rather large. Four was nimble, but nimbleness only went so far. There weren’t a lot of hazards in the battlefield, considering Wild’s Hyrule Field was rather barren, but that also meant it was very easy to get surrounded. 

Like Four was now. The Bokoblins were pressing in on him from all sides, and even with four voices in his head telling him where the enemies were, dodging and hitting was proving to be a significant challenge. He ducked under a club, stabbing upwards and spraying black blood onto his face. 

_ They’re infected.  _ Vio noted. 

_ No kidding!  _ Blue retorted. Four rolled his eyes, swinging his sword again. He severed a Bokoblin’s arm from its body and wrinkled his nose in disgust at the screeching monster. 

“Four!” That voice was not from his head, it was Hyrule, calling out in fear and warning. Four had just enough time to look at Hyrule’s wide green eyes before something very hard and very painful hit him in the back of the head. 

_ We’re unconscious! We’re unconscious!  _ Red shrieked. 

_ Should we split? _ Vio wondered.  _ That might allow us to regain consciousness, at least partially.  _

__ _ It’s not worth it.  _ Green argued.  _ We shouldn’t reveal our secret, and certainly not like this.  _

__ _ Would you rather we die?  _ Blue yelled. 

_ Calm down!  _ Vio said, sounding much more angry than usual.  _ We are not going to die, there are eight other heroes in the fight with us! They’ll rescue us, I know they will.  _

__ _ I agree with Vio.  _ Red said quietly.  _ Let’s just wait. _

__ _ Waiting is pointless!  _ Blue snapped.  _ We need to split, now! _

__ _ No! _ Vio said. 

__ _ Yes! _ _   
_ __ _ Guys!  _ That was Red, actually shouting in anger for once.  _ You’re hurting us. Our body can’t take that kind of strain, it’s going to make things worse.  _

__ _ Getting stabbed would also make things worse! _

__ _ Blue, I think you’re outvoted this time.  _ Green said carefully. Blue muttered a stream of curses that made Red yelp, but he didn’t press the issue any further. 

When Four woke up fully, when the Colors weren’t at each other’s throats, he was lying in a soft bed big enough to hold three of him. Wind was sitting next to him in a hard wooden chair, head leaned back—he was asleep. As soon as the pain in Four’s skull returned to him, making him groan, Wind snapped awake. 

“Four! Do you need anything? Water? Food? I can—”

“We’re fine, Wind.” Four said, rubbing at his forehead and not even realizing he referred to himself as “we” instead of “I”. Wind didn’t seem to notice the slip-up either, thankfully. “I just need sleep.”

“Oh. Okay.” Wind sat back, and Four hummed something to himself before nestling back into the bedsheets and closing his eyes. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for the prompt, I hope it did it justice! I don’t write Four very often—


	47. Fiddlesticks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Requested by Timea1412
> 
> This one was hard but fun

Time, Warriors, Legend, Twilight, and Four sat around a table, each holding their hand of playing cards close to their face in order to keep it hidden from their opponents. Sky, as to be expected, was sleeping in a corner of the room they’d rented, Four was reading, and Wild and Hyrule were off somewhere outside. It was a miracle Twilight was able to keep his mind off of them long enough to play a card game. 

“Twilight,” Legend said, side-eyeing the Ordonian, “do you have any Tektites?” Twilight gave him a deadpan look and handed over two presumably Tektite cards. Legend smirked as he placed two more of the cards in front of him. “And I have a match, thank you.”

“Alright, my turn.” Time said. “Legend, do you have any Lizalfos?”

“I do not, Go Hunting.” Legend smoothly replied. 

“Fiddlesticks.” Time muttered, reaching into the stack of cards in front of them. Warriors blinked, a memory of his time in the war returning to him. 

_ “Link!” Mask was grinning, holding the yellow Keaton Mask up. “You should try this on!” _ _   
_ __ _ “Are you sure?” Link said skeptically. Mask nodded and held out the Mask. “I guess it wouldn’t hurt to try.” Link grabbed the mask and tried to fit it onto his face, but he quickly found that the Keaton Mask was too small for him. _

__ _ “What’s wrong? Do you not like it?” _ _   
_ __ _ “No no, I love it Mask.” Link ruffled the younger’s hair for effect. “It just doesn’t fit me, that’s all.” _ _   
_ __ _ “Fiddlesticks.” Mask said, stomping foot as he took the Keaton Mask back from Link. “I’m sorry it doesn’t fit.” _ _   
_ __ _ “No need to apologize, kiddo.” _ _   
_ __ “—riors! Warriors!” Twilight was the one to snap him from his thoughts with a concerned tone. “You good?”

“Fine, just thinking.” Warriors shook himself, trying (and failing) to not stare at Time. Was it possible that Time and Mask were one in the same? They had a lot of the same possessions, that’s for sure. 

“About what?” Time was smiling in a way that made Warriors think the older hero had discovered something amusing. 

“I’ll tell you later. Let’s just finish our game. Twilight, do you have any Octoroks?” 

“Why does everyone keep taking my cards?” Twilight whined as he gave Warriors  _ three _ Octorok cards, allowing the Captain to make another match. Warriors laughed, and surprisingly, Time joined him. 

“So, what were you going to talk to me about?” Time said, coming up beside Warriors just as the moon began to show its face above the horizon. “I can tell it’s something important.” 

“I… Time, what did you go by when you were a kid? It wasn’t Link, was it.”   
“I was wondering how long it would take for you to figure it out.” Time said, starting to grin a bit. 

“Wh—you  _ knew _ ? And you didn’t tell me?” 

“I wanted to see if you could find out. There’s a lot of secrets you don’t know.”

“But—okay, fine.” Warriors took a deep breath. “I can’t believe I knew you when you were that young. You were so… innocent.”

“Are you sure?” Time asked. Warriors thought, to a few times where Mask had killed ten enemies with a single sword strike, or woken up screaming because of horrific nightmares no child, no  _ human _ , should have to experience. 

“No, I’m not sure. I am glad to know you lived this long, though.”

“It would take a lot more than a war to kill me.”

“I’ll say.” Warriors snapped his fingers as he remembered something. “Hey, you were looking at my scarf a lot earlier. Do you… I dunno, want to wear it?” Time looked at him in shock, though the idea of using Warriors’ scarf wasn’t foreign to him. Mask had been very fond of the royal blue garment. Time chewed on his lip for a moment. 

“Yes please.” He said, more quiet than Warriors had ever heard him sound. He gave Time the scarf. “Thank you.”

“Of course, Ma-Time.”


	48. Ice Cream

“Wild, are you almost done with the Spicy Elixirs? It’s getting cold.” Legend said irritably, rubbing his hands together. 

“I’m trying, Legend. Give me a second.” Wild said. “I don’t know why it’s taking this long to cook.”   
“We’ll live without your potions for a while, Cub.” Twilight assured him. “Take however long you need.”

“Unless that long is weeks.” Legend supplied (un)helpfully. Warriors playfully slapped Legend’s shoulder. 

“He won’t take that long, lighten up!” As if in direct response, steam drifted through the air as Wild got to work on his elixirs. 

“They’ll take about five minutes, so I guess just conserve warmth until then.”

“Done.” Wind said, and he made a grabbing motion towards Twilight, who sighed and gave the younger boy his fur pelt. “Thank you.” Wind wrapped himself in the pelt, and Four cast a longing look at Sky’s Sailcloth, though he knew Sky was reluctant to let others touch the garment. 

“Why is your Hyrule so  _ cold,  _ Twi? It’s ridiculous.” Legend complained. 

“Snowpeak is freezing, I agree.” Time said. “But I’m sure Twilight didn’t purposefully drop us here. None of us have any control over the portals.” 

“Yeah, but  _ she  _ does.” Legend cast a venomous glare at the sky, or rather, at Hylia. 

“Hylia would never try to make our lives any harder, Legend. We’re her chosen heroes.” Sky protested. Legend gave him a skeptical look, but he didn’t press the matter any further. 

“Done! Here you—what?” Wild moved to hand his elixirs to the various heroes, but paused in complete confusion. He was holding… ice cream cones? “What happened?”   
“Does that usually happen?” Four asked. 

“N-No, that’s never happened before.” Wild shrugged, taking a bite of the ice cream. 

“Did you just…  _ bite  _ ice cream?” Twilight sounded appalled. 

“You don’t?” 

“No! No one does that!”

“They don’t?” Time was the one wondering now. 

“ _ Time! _ ” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the long wait! I’m still alive :D
> 
> I am working my hardest on the requests, they will get done, but I’m working through what I’m pretty sure is burnout so it might take a while yet, I’m sorry :/


	49. Wrestling Match

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Requested by ruska93
> 
> I am so sorry this took so long!!! I just got distracted with other stuff and then lost motivation; please forgive me—

The Goron Mines were a combination of beautiful and intimidating, as they had been when Twilight had first visited them. The blue magnetic stone lining the walls sparkled, and magma spewing from the ground and from the walls heated the air until it felt like an oven. The Gorons standing with their arms crossed in front of the nine Heroes of Courage didn’t seem fazed by the heat at all, in contrast to the sweating Hylians in front of them. 

“Brother!” Gor Coron said, clapping his hands together with a grin. “It has been a while since I have seen you!” 

“Hello, Gor Coron.” Twilight replied. “These are my… friends. We happened to be in the area and thought we’d stop by.”   
“More like you dragged us up here to die of heatstroke.” Warriors retorted. Gor Coron laughed. 

“It is quite warm up here for you Hylians, isn’t it?” 

“With all due respect, ‘quite warm’ is an understatement.” Four said. 

“If I could make the climate more hospitable, I would.” Gor Coron told him, and he sounded sincere. “Now, Link.” Even though Gor Coron was speaking to Twilight, all of the heroes turned and looked at him anyways. “I believe we are long overdue for a duel.” Twilight grinned. 

“Alright, deal.” 

About fifteen minutes later, Twilight was standing in front of Gor Coron on a wrestling ring. He was wearing metal boots, to level the playing field. Gor Coron didn’t seem to think it was cheating, despite Warriors and Legend’s teasing. 

“Ready?” Gor Coron said. He was grinning again. 

“Of course.” Twilight replied. 

“Then let us begin!” Gor Coron made the first move, lunging forward. Twilight moved to leap back, but the Iron Boots did not allow him to do it quickly enough, and Gor Coron got a hand on Twilight’s arm, shoving him towards the edge of the ring. Twilight grit his teeth, a growl rising in his throat as he pushed back against Gor Coron’s formidable strength. The two engaged in a battle of grappling and pushing, until Twilight got lucky enough to catch Gor Coron off guard and get him out of the ring. Gor Coron smiled, impressed. 

“That was awesome!” Wild exclaimed. “You have to teach me that sometime!”   
“Absolutely not.” Twilight said, bending down to unstrap his boots. “You do not need more methods of giving me gray hairs.” Wild crossed his arms and pretended to pout. 

“That was a good match!” Gor Coron said as he came up to Twilight and slapped him on the back. “You fight well!” 

“Who would’ve thought that Country Boy over here was that strong?” Warriors whispered to Sky, who shrugged. 

“There is no way I could ever do that.” He said. “I would be wheezing within moments.”   
“Gor Coron,” Time began, stepping forward, “would you accept a duel against me?”   
“Of course!” 

“Time—” Twilight said. Time cut him off with a smirk that looked almost devilish. 

“Don’t worry about me, Pup. I’ve dealt with Gorons before.” With a countdown, said by Wind in a very overexcited voice, the wrestling match began. 


	50. Innocence

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Requested by Kae_The_Minish_Bandit  
> Time and Four bonding

Four lay on his back in the field of swaying grass, eyes half-closed as he breathed in the scents of nature around him. He loved his Hyrule, and he loved it even more when the heroes were safe enough to let their guards down, even if it was just a bit. 

Sky was sitting and plucking on his harp, playing a happy and bright melody with loud strumming chords. Wind and Hyrule were listening to him with such attention that it was almost funny, their eyes wide as they leaned forwards. Warriors and Legend were standing just a ways away with their swords held in front of them, preparing to spar for the sake of sparring. Four had warned them that they would probably end up giving each other bruises and walk away sore, and Legend had replied, “Good, I can’t wait for the Captain’s face to be less handsome.” Warriors had clapped a hand to his chest, eyes wide with feigned shock. 

Twilight, to Four’s surprise (and amusement), was asleep under a tree, with a wide-brimmed hat Warriors had gotten for him as a joke over his eyes. He really did look like some country nobody with the hat, and Warriors thought it was hilarious, but Four knew better than to underestimate any of them, let alone the arguably most intimidating one. 

Wild was taking advantage of his mentor’s being asleep and trying his best to do cartwheels or flips in the meadow. He’d already sprained his wrist once, and Hyrule had wasted some magic healing him so Twilight wouldn’t notice what had happened. 

“Four!” Time exclaimed. Four jolted, eyes going wide as he noticed the Picori sitting on the tip of his nose. “What is that?”   
“You can see them?” Four said. He sat up slowly, putting the creature in the palm of his hand. It looked at him, cocking its head. 

“Can’t the others?”   
“No. You can only see them if you’re innocent, apparently.” Four said. Time made a startled sound. 

“Then why…?” Four shrugged. Time looked at the Picori, and Four could see a bit of the childish innocence he usually kept hidden peeking through. He looked completely interested in the little creature. “They’re beautiful.” Time said quietly. Four almost laughed. Beautiful isn’t the word he would have used, but Time could think what he wanted, he supposed. “Thank you for showing them to me.”   
“Thanks for seeing them.” Four replied.


	51. Small, pt 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Requested by twinkal

The next day, Legend awoke to Hyrule poking at his face. He blinked, pushing the toddler’s hand away from his eyes. 

“Pipsqueak? What time is it?”   
“Early!” Hyrule said helpfully. The sky was dark, but the sun was just beginning to show over the horizon. “We gotta get up!”

“He’s been up for an hour.” Wind said, smiling. The Sailor had taken last watch the previous day. “I had to convince him not to wake you.”

“Thanks.” Legend said, sitting up and groaning as he heard his bones pop. He really needed to stop with the whole adventuring thing, but it looked like Hylia wouldn’t let that happen anytime soon. The other Heroes were asleep, but it looked like they wouldn’t be for much longer; most of them naturally woke up as the sun rose. Little Twilight, gripping to a clump of Wild’s hair, was mumbling and kicking his feet. Wild didn’t appear to notice, which made sense considering he slept like a rock. 

Warriors and Sky were sleeping clinging to each other, and Four was next to them with an arm curled around them protectively. It was, Legend noticed, adorable. He shoved that down, though. He did have a reputation to maintain. 

After about thirty minutes, Time woke up, followed by Twilight and Wild. Four was up shortly after, but Warriors and Sky slept for another half an hour before Warriors awoke, and then he had to help prod and poke Sky awake. 

“We’re heading to a Fairy Fountain today.” Wild said, absently ruffling Twilight’s hair. The little Ordonian was still sticking tightly to either Wild or Time. “There should be a fountain just around here somewhere.” Wild looked around at the green grass and red-leafed trees, scanning. 

“A fairy?” Warriors said, looking excited. “I love fairies! They’re so pretty.” Hyrule nodded enthusiastically in agreement. 

“Well, you’re in luck!” Four said. “Because we’re going to visit a fairy.” Warriors clapped his hands together. Wild grinned and laughed, turning and starting to lead the group towards the fountain. Twilight hung next to him until he saw a pink butterfly that had landed by Warriors, and then the two of them became very engrossed in a discussion about insects. Sky occasionally added in snippets of information concerning beetles. Time couldn’t help but notice that their conversation sounded exactly like something Wild would talk about. 

“I’m almost gonna miss them.” Wind said to Time, who nodded.

“It is… nice.” He agreed. “But we need the extra hands to help with the fighting, and I do miss  _ our _ Sky, War, Twi, and ‘Rule.” Wind laughed. 

“They’ve only been small for like, a day. You’re getting sentimental, Old Man.” Time rolled his eye. 

“Wind!” Warriors exclaimed, drawing Wind over to him. “Look!” He held out a small, dark rock, polished slightly. “You think I could sharpen a sword with this?”

“Maybe.” Wind said. Warriors started reaching towards the sword on his back (their clothing and weapons had shrunk with them, thankfully), and Wind grabbed his wrist. “We can test it later tonight, okay? We need to go see the fairy.” 

“Alright.” Warriors said in a distinctly pouting tone of voice. He continued down the path with the other heroes, resuming his insect-centric conversation with Twilight and Sky. 

They reached the Fairy Fountain after another two hours of walking, and though Sky’s feet were starting to hurt, he didn’t tell anyone. He was tough; he didn’t need to be carried! Though Hyrule was, by Legend, and it did look awfully comfortable. 

“Mija!” Wild called. A beautiful woman with purple hair exploded from the fountain, smiling. Sky shrieked and covered his eyes. Twilight growled at the fairy, as did Warriors. Hyrule, on the opposite end of the spectrum, laughed and clapped his hands together, startling Legend, who just barely bit back a curse. 

“It’s okay Sky, she’s friendly.” Time said, crouching down in front of the scared boy. Sky peeked out from behind his fingers, looking at Mija. 

“Who are these friends of yours, Link?” Mija asked, gesturing to the other heroes. “It seems that some of them have been meddling with nasty magic.” 

“We’re here to ask you to undo the magic.” Wild explained. “Can you?” Mija nodded, diving back down into her fountain for a moment before coming up holding a collection of gemstones. She kissed her fingertip, then patted each of the little heroes on the heads. 

“That should do it.” She said with a smile, then disappeared into the water. The heroes waited in expectant silence for a few moments, hoping for the magic to take effect. 

It did, creating a giant cloud that was so thick you couldn’t see more than a few feet in front of you. The cloud dissipated with a hissing sound, and Hyrule, Sky, Twilight, and Warriors were back to their normal, much taller selves. 

“Thank Farore!” Warriors said, looking down at himself and grinning. 

“Couldn’t we have kept him small?” Legend whined. “He was less annoying that way.”   
“Shut up, Veteran, you’re just bitter that you can’t carry Hyrule around anymore.” Legend’s face turned red, and he started berating Warriors. Time laughed.  _ Nothing’s changed between the two of them.  _ He thought ruefully.  _ But I prefer it this way. _

“Thanks for fixin’ that, Cub.” Twilight said. He seemed much confident now that he was back in his own body. “It’s good to be back.”   
“I dunno, I liked sleeping all day.” Sky said, grinning. The other heroes laughed, and Sky laughed with them. 


End file.
